A security officer takes part in an evacuation operation for the village of Cadalso de los Vidrios. (EPA Images pic)MADRID: Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Saturday firefighters were working to "save lives" in the blazes raging west of Madrid, as authorities said a separate fire in the east killed one person.The fires in the parched countryside have forced 60,000 people to flee their homes, the interior ministry said, in what officials have called the region's worst fire on record. The central government delegate in Madrid had earlier given a higher estimate of around 70,000."Our priority, our thinking, our aim is for your lives, to save your lives and protect inhabited areas," Sanchez told reporters in the village of Cenicientos in the fire zone."We are going to have some complex hours ahead because although the temperatures have gone down, we do not know exactly how the wind will develop, how strong it will be."Early on Saturday the smell of burning reached the streets of central Madrid, forcing them to keep their windows closed.
The health ministry on X advised people to avoid staying outside for long periods because of bad air quality.Evacuees from surrounding villages were bussed in to shelter in sports halls around the capital.When flames reached the village of Robledo de Chavela, Rosa, 56, refused to leave at first because she wanted to arrange for carers to rescue the feral cats that she keeps."I felt very ill because I have asthma. I started coughing and I threw up," she told AFP at a gymnasium in the northern Madrid suburb of Alcobendas."In the end ... they (police) came to get me," she said, asking not to be identified by her last name as she was concerned for her safety."They didn't do anything for the cats, but they told me I had get out of the house one way or the other."'Opportunity' to beat fireThe interior ministry said on X on Saturday afternoon that another 30,000 people had been evacuated from villages near Madrid and nearly 30,000 from neighbouring Avila province, bringing the total who have fled to 60,000.It said 8,000 were ordered to stay in their homes in Madrid and 20,000 in Avila.Easing heat overnight offered a "window of opportunity this weekend to fight...
this very serious fire", Sanchez said.Two separate wildfires in the Madrid region combined on Friday to form one huge blaze, which threatened to merge with a third ne… As dry, windy weather fueled a big wildfire near a city in central Oregon, a fourth firefighter died after he and several colleagues last month were overcome by a fast-moving wildfire near the Colorado-Utah border.Nathan Matthews, 43, of Lincoln, Nebraska, died Friday, the federal Interior Department said in a release Saturday.Meanwhile, several fierce wildfires in a summer of big ones continued burning across the western U.S.One of the worst — and the one deemed top priority for firefighting efforts — was just a few miles (5 kilometers) north of Sisters, a central Oregon city of about 3,000 people.Winds gusting up to 30 mph (50 kilometers per hour) threatened to push flames into new areas. Firefighters made progress keeping the fire in check, however, and officials were optimistic the city would be in the clear once the worst of the wind died down Sunday.“It's going to take a while to put it out entirely.
But as long as it stops moving, I think that’ll get people to relax a little bit,” Sisters Mayor Jennifer Letz said.As of Saturday, the lightning-caused fire had burned about 40 square miles (105 square kilometers) and was 5% contained. About 30 people evacuated from areas north of Sisters were in a shelter at the local high school, with about as many more staying in recreational vehicles parked outside, Letz said.The city wasn't in any immediate danger, and business was carrying on like usual, Letz said.“We’re not necessarily asking everybody to come to Sisters. But it’s safe here,” said Letz.Months of dry weather, a record lack of snow in some areas, hot spells and erratic winds have contributed to the blazes in Oregon, Washington, California, Colorado and elsewhere this summer.In Canada, 926 fires were burning Saturday, including 82 deemed out of control, according to the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System.About 300 aircraft and 5,300 people were involved in fighting the fires.
They included 133 in northwestern Ontario alone, according to the province's Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services agency.The biggest in Ontario had covered some 1,200 square miles (3,200 square kilometers).The U.S. firefighter who died was among a group that had deployed tentlike emergency shelters to try to shield themselves when flames closed in June 27. Three of them died at the scene: Emily Barker, 38; Nick Hutcherson, 27; and Sydney Watson, 26.They were part …
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