The President of the Regional Government of Andalusia, Juanma Moreno, has confirmed the stabilization of the forest fire that ravaged the province of Huelva and spread to Seville. The blaze, which began on August 6th in the Raboconejo area of Niebla, has covered approximately 38,000 hectares and has been described as one of the most challenging of the last decade.
Following 36 hours without new outbreaks and with the perimeter free of flames, the Infoca plan has announced the fire's stabilization, moving it to level 2 of the emergency plan. Units from the Military Emergencies Unit (UME) will begin their withdrawal on Sunday.
“"It has been a fire of permanent and constant intensity and aggressiveness throughout the 10 days, giving us no respite, pushing the teams almost to exhaustion in the fight against this beast, as I called it, this great monster of a fire. It has caused suffering and, logically, constant and permanent concern."
The return home of the 417 individuals from eleven municipalities who had to be evacuated marks a return to normalcy. The fire had also affected towns in Seville such as El Madroño and Aznacóllar.
Despite stabilization, the fire is not yet extinguished. Hotspots persist and will be cooled and controlled in the coming days. President Moreno explained that the appearance of smoke columns is foreseeable and does not indicate a resurgence, but rather the management of residual hot spots. Full technical extinction may take weeks, but the immediate danger has passed.
