Tragic Forest Fire
/ News / Reports from Spain /

A forest fire in Spain has killed at least 11 fire fighters whose bodies were discovered late Sunday, more than 24 hours after a weekend barbecue got out of hand and set ablaze a hilly area east of Madrid. Authorities said they fear a total of 14 firefighters may have died, but only 11 bodies had been located at the site of the blaze, near the remote village of Santa Maria del Espino, in Guadalajara province, about 130 kilometers east of Madrid. The fire remained out of control late Sunday, so far it had already burned 8000 hectares of land.

It started Saturday afternoon in a cave area called Cueva de los Casares, a picnic site where a barbecue sparked a forest fire. It was reported that "carelessness" at the barbecue had led to the fire, those responsible for the barbecue had been identified and located and some have been detained.

Spain's highest-audience radio network, SER, quoted the mayor of one town affected by the Guadalajara province fire as complaining that more resources had not been assigned to the fire soon after it began on Saturday afternoon. The government spokesman, who works for the central government's main office in Guadalajara province, said he did not know how many firefighters were battling the blaze. Several hundred residents in the towns of Tobillos, Mazarete and Ciruelos del Pinar had been evacuated, but some had been allowed to return home by late Sunday.

Published 2005-07-18

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