A Spanish soldier died on Sunday while helping efforts to extinguish a major wildfire in the northeastern region of Aragon when his truck tumbled into a ravine, authorities said.
The army’s Military Emergencies Unit confirmed “with deep pain” the loss of its soldier fighting the fire, which has raged for a week and threatened a 1,000-year-old monastery.
The central government’s top representative in the regional capital Zaragoza, Noelia Herrero, said the accident struck in the Atares ravine near Mount Oroel, a locally emblematic peak located in an area of rugged terrain with narrow roads.
Three other occupants of the fire engine were rushed to hospital with injuries of varying severity, the regional government said in a statement.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez expressed “all my love and my solidarity with the family and colleagues” of the victim on X, saying “we are constantly indebted” to the emergency services.
Like its European neighbours, Spain has suffered several spells of extreme summer heat, contributing to ideal conditions for a string of wildfires.
Scientists say climate change, driven by humanity’s burning of fossil fuels, is increasing the length, frequency and intensity of such extreme weather.
The regional government had announced what it called the largest firefighting deployment in Aragon’s history to tame the blaze, with the arrival of 100 French reinforcements taking the total to 1,000 people.
The flames have come close to the two monasteries of San Juan de la Pena, which are a symbol of the region.
The oldest monastery, linked by legend to the Holy Grail, has origins in the 10th century and contains the remains of the first kings of the medieval kingdom of Aragon, which were rescued on Thursday.
– King ‘grateful’ –
A complicated week marked by unpredictable winds and high temperatures saw the flames spread across 17,500 hectares , according to the regional government’s latest estimate.
Sunday night’s work would focus on “consolidating the containment in the most dangerous sectors”, after a day that saw their “partial containment”, the regional government statement said.
More than 1,000 people have been evacuated from the surrounding villages, while several roads and part of the regional railway network are shut.
Aragon’s leader Jorge Azcon wrote on X that King Felipe VI had called him to “extend his support” to the evacuees and “gratitude” to the firefighters.
The Civil Guard has arrested a person suspected of starting the fire.
In the southern region of Andalusia, authorities allowed more than 400 evacuees to return home after a wildfire that has raged for 10 days and affected more than 25,000 hectares was declared under control on Sunday.
The authorities have said the number of affected hectares straddling the provinces of Huelva and Seville only refers to the perimeter of the fire and does not mean the entire area has been burned.
In late July, a wildfire just dozens of kilometres west of Madrid became the largest in Spain’s recent history and triggered a national emergency.
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