The forest fire declared in Niebla (Huelva), the largest in the history of Andalusia, registers a "positive evolution" after achieving the objective of "strangling" the advance of the flames, which has allowed a "large part" of its flanks to be left "without an active front", as reported by the first vice president of the Junta de Andalucía and counselor of the Presidency, Health and Emergencies, Antonio Sanz.
In statements to the media at the Niebla Advanced Command Post (PMA), Sanz detailed that the southern flank is “without activity” after liquidating the Los Carneros area, while the northwest sector – which extends from El Pozuelo and Marigenta to Berrocal – has spent the night under active surveillance and eliminating specific hot spots.
For its part, the northern sector - from Berrocal to El Álamo - does not present an active front either, with work focusing on refreshing the perimeter with water lines and after completing a defense line with heavy machinery on the Los Camellos road.
The counselor has specified that the eastern sector is “the most active area” and where “the greatest efforts are concentrated”, especially on the fronts of the highway from Aznalcóllar to El Álamo and towards El Castillo de las Guardas. In this area, as explained, "complex" episodes have been experienced due to the formation of pyrocumulus clouds and convective phenomena that "generated secondary outbreaks at distances of up to 3.5 kilometers, forcing at specific times to withdraw air and ground resources for safety." The southeast sector remains active and the fire has reached some areas close to homes, where extinguishing teams have intervened along with firefighters.
To deal with the fire, the device currently has 875 troops - including personnel in action and refreshment checkpoints -, 33 aerial means and 352 mechanical means. Despite efforts to contain the flames, more than 31,000 hectares have been burned.
The opening and extension of defensive lines with heavy machinery between Aznalcóllar and El Castillo de las Guardas and in the axis of the Camino de los Camellos also continues. The UME has advanced about four kilometers from one end, while from the other it has worked up to kilometers 12 and 13.
The operation also maintains surveillance of the evacuated areas and controls access to prevent unauthorized entry. The emergency management of the Infoca Plan keeps 658 people in preventive distancing from different nuclei and scattered areas of Niebla, Villarrasa, Berrocal, Zalamea la Real, Paterna del Campo, La Palma del Condado, Escacena del Campo, El Madroño and Aznalcóllar.
The head of the Forest Action Group (GRAF) of the Firefighters of the Generalitat of Catalonia and national expert in forest fire management, Marc Castellnou, has warned that the forest fire that started on August 6 in the Raboconejos de Niebla area (Huelva) has a "very difficult extinguishing capacity" because the fire itself has created a "persistently modified atmosphere" over the area that maintains the behavior of the fire at "high intensity" continued.
The specialist has stressed that it is not a fire derived from "a specific event", such as a specific entry of northwest wind or an isolated pyroconvective situation, but rather a "permanence of extreme behavior day and night." In his opinion, this is “the most important characteristic effect that we have to explain and that defines the large fires of recent years.”
Regarding the spread on the ground, Castellnou explained that the fire has consolidated through a “snaking behavior”, moving “during the day towards the east-northeast and at night towards the south, to turn again the next day”. This dynamic generates a pattern of “changing heads” that places an increasingly wider eastern front, “capable of reproducing new races the next day” and “severely” complicating control tasks.
Faced with this highly complex scenario, the strategy of the extinction teams is to “try to limit growth towards the north”, an area where the “longer” races could be triggered. “The strategic approach basically involves closing the northwest and confining the north-northeast to try to close the spread to the east, confine the fire and narrow it,” the head of the GRAF detailed.
The Brotherhood of the Virgen del Pino and of the Saints Mártires Walabonso and María de Niebla (Huelva) has announced that the traditional transfer that takes place every August 15 from its Hermitage to the municipality will be delayed, initially, to August 21.
"Today we have to be responsible. The safety of the people and the evolution of the fire must be above any other consideration. Our Virgin will continue to be our Virgin wherever she is, and our faith does not understand distances or circumstances. In these moments of uncertainty, we want to ask the people of Niebla to remain united, serene and hopeful. That we do not let fear separate us and that, precisely now, we know how to demonstrate the strength of a people that knows how to walk together when they need it most," the brotherhood stressed.
In Huesca, the Las Peñas de Riglos fire has caused the evacuation of four new municipalities after a reproduction at the tail end of the fire. The order has been for nine people in Santa María de La Peña, for 44 in Triste, 70 in La Peña Estación and four in Yeste, according to the Government Delegation in Aragón.
The extinguishing device is confident that a meteorological turn for this weekend will allow progress in the fight against the flames, in a fire that has a perimeter of 50 kilometers and continues to advance, after having already devastated some 10,000 hectares.
The Government of Navarra sent air and land resources this Friday morning to collaborate in the efforts to extinguish the fire. As detailed to the media by the president of the regional Executive, María Chivite, at 7 in the morning a helicopter was sent to the area, which is also collaborating with two from the ministry based in Navarra, three land brigades from Cordovilla, Peralta and Sangüesa, a forestry reinforcement brigade, two commanders, two forestry pumps and a mother truck.
On the other hand, both the old and new monasteries of San Juan de la Peña are “in serious danger of disappearance” after “very complex and complicated” hours during the early hours of Friday.
