Fatal fire in Aragon: Spanish soldier killed while fighting forest fires

Fatal fire in Aragon. A Spanish soldier died on Sunday while participating in the mobilization to put out a forest fire in this region of northeastern Spain.

“I expressed my sincere condolences to the lieutenant general of the Military Emergency Unit for the death of a soldier during the Penas de Riglos fire,” regional president Jorge Azcón said on X. Local media claimed that his truck had overturned.

The regional government had announced the largest deployment of firefighters in the history of Aragon, including French reinforcements, to control the fire which broke out on Monday. A difficult week, marked by unpredictable winds and high temperatures, saw the flames spread over 16,600 hectares and led to the evacuation of more than 1,000 people from surrounding villages.

Elsewhere in Spain, in Andalusia (south), the authorities authorized more than 400 evacuees to return home after a forest fire, which had raged for ten days and had affected more than 25,000 hectares, was declared under control on Sunday.