Military called in and town locked down after wildfire takes hold in Spain

A wildfire that broke out on Monday night, in the Barranco de las Cinco Villas ravine, in the municipality of Cuevas del Valle, in the south of the province of Ávila in Spain, forced the "partial confinement" of the population of the nearby municipality of Mombeltrán, located in the foothills of the Puerto del Pico, during the early hours of the morning.

This was confirmed by the Junta de Castilla y León early this morning. Due to the "serious risk to the population, property or significant forest damage" and due to the rapid spread of the flames, the regional government declared a major incident at around 2.20am.

The fire started at around 11.10pm in an area of the Tiétar Valley, which at the time was being affected by strong gusts of wind from the north, which favoured the rapid spread of the fire.

Just two minutes after midnight, Spain's Directorate-General of Traffic reported that the traffic flow in both directions of the N-502 road, between kilometres 64.2 and 67.3, was completely closed as a preventive measure due to the evolution of the fire and the presence of smoke and dust on the road, which prevented vehicles from safely passing.

At around one o'clock in the morning, the president of the Junta de Castilla y León, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, showed his support for the work to extinguish the forest fire on social media networks: "Very attentive to the evolution of #IFMontbeltrán in #Ávila, with very strong winds. A large operation has been working in the area since the fire was declared tonight", the head of the regional executive posted on X, where he also thanked the work of those fighting the fire and promised, from the Junta, that they would provide "all the means to extinguish it as soon as possible".

Earlier this morning, the Junta reported that in view of the need for measures for the "care and relief of the population or protection of property", due to the proximity of the flames, the "partial confinement" of Mombeltrán had been ordered last night.

The population of this municipality, which usually has fewer than a thousand inhabitants, multiplies during the summer. This is a "preventive measure", adopted with the aim of "guaranteeing the safety" of the residents.

The regional authorities last night requested the mobilisation of Spain's military emergency unit (UME), whose first soldiers left Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid). The firefighting operation currently working in the area is made up of 42 troops: twelve ground crews, thirteen fire engines, eight environmental agents, three technicians, two bulldozers, three helicopter crews, amongst others.

Investigators believe that the way in which the fire started and the time are indications that it could be an intentionally started fire. In the summer of 2009, the area was the focus of another serious fire that devastated 4,500 hectares.