The Las Hurdes fire is out of control and is heading to the Árrago Valley

The Las Hurdes forest fire, which remains out of control, active and classified as dangerous level 2, is heading towards the Árrago Valley and the flames are approaching populations that are informed in a pre-alert situation in case they should take civil protection measures, sources from the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Territory of the Junta de Extremadura reported this morning.

The Árrago Valley has a very high tree density, mainly pines, and is home to a Black Vulture reserve, so the arrival of fire in this extensive area would make the work of controlling the flames much more complicated and would mean an even greater environmental disaster. .

The prevailing strong wind and the lack of visibility derived from the night hours complicate the work of the numerous land units that are working against the forest fire that is ravaging the north of the province of Cáceres, and whose flames, which started more than 24 hours in the region of Las Hurdes, have already reached the Sierra de Gata.

Despite both inconveniences in their arduous work to try to prevent the fire from advancing, about twenty land units, with around 200 troops, are working on the ground, sources from the Ministry of Agriculture, Development Rural and Territory.

The direction of the Special Civil Protection Plan for Forest Fires of Extremadura (Infocaex) has opted for the preventive removal of the residents of the houses closest to the forest mass of Torrecilla de los Ángeles (Cáceres) given the complications of the fire and as a measure of civil protection before the proximity of the fire.

The fire, active and classified with level 2 of danger -when the intervention of state resources not assigned to the Extremadura Forest Fire Fighting Plan (INFOEX) is necessary-, has also forced the interruption of road traffic on the EX interregional highway -204, which connects Coria with the province of Salamanca, at the height of the aforementioned town of Torrecilla de los Ángeles, in which around fifty residents reside. The CC-121 (Pinofranqueado-Sauceda) and CC-122 (Muela-Robledo) highways also remain closed.

The evolution of the fire, whose flames mainly affect the municipality of Pinofranqueado in Cáceres, in the Las Hurdes region, worsened significantly this past afternoon. In fact, the commanders of the operation to fight this fire have described the situation of the fire in its western part as “critical”.