Five municipalities evacuated as Zaragoza wildfire spreads across 4,500 hectares

Residents of Malpica de Arba, Orés, Asín, Luesia and Uncastillo were ordered to leave their homes, with those in Uncastillo receiving an ES-Alert, Spain's nationwide emergency warning sent directly to mobile phones.

The Aragón regional emergency coordination centre (Cecopi) met on Thursday morning at the 112 Crisis Centre in Zaragoza, where officials assessed the progress of the fire near Orés, in the Cinco Villas area. The wildfire remains active under Operational Situation 2, Level 2 of the region's Special Civil Protection Plan for Forest Fires (Procinfo), according to Europa Press.

"The fire is at a critical and complex stage," said Roberto Bermúdez de Castro, Aragón's regional minister for finance, the interior and public administration. "We had a very difficult night, with erratic winds. We've made significant progress thanks to the efforts of every authority and all the teams deployed, but there's still a huge amount of work ahead."

Firefighters have been working across the entire perimeter, which is divided into five sectors. Conditions have improved in sectors 2 and 4, but the blaze continues to advance along its left flank, prompting crews to focus on strengthening containment lines there to prevent further spread.

Evacuated residents are either staying with relatives or at the sports centre in Ejea de los Caballeros, where around 80 people are being accommodated. A further 54 residents from care homes in the affected municipalities have been moved to facilities in Zaragoza.

Psychological support is also being stepped up, with help from the Red Cross, the Aragon Institute of Social Services and the regional emergency psychological intervention team.

"Our absolute priority remains protecting people," Bermúdez de Castro said. "That's why Orés, Asín, Luesia and Malpica de Arba were evacuated, elderly care home residents were moved and we're maintaining all the resources needed to support those affected and guarantee their safety."

Bermúdez de Castro also warned that high temperatures, strong winds and low humidity were making conditions dangerous, not just in Aragón but across Spain.

"We've got to remain vigilant, take the greatest possible care and keep activity in forest areas to an absolute minimum," he said. "This is likely to become one of the biggest and most complex wildfires the region has faced in recent years. It'll take days to bring under control and many more days to extinguish."

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the government had mobilised "all the necessary resources to deal with the emergency" and urged the public to exercise "extreme caution". In a post on X, he added his "solidarity with everyone affected by the wildfire in Orés, Zaragoza".

The A-1204 between Farasdués and Asín and the CV-813 between Asín and Orés remain closed. The Guardia Civil is maintaining security and traffic controls, unless changing conditions require further road closures.

In Asín itself, around ten homes have been affected. Flames entered three properties, and one suffered extensive damage. Firefighters worked through the night in the area and remain on the scene.

Meanwhile, Thursday's strategy is focused on securing an extensive but still fragile perimeter, particularly along the left flank. Regional authorities are also closely monitoring nearby Biel. Forecast winds could push the fire westwards later in the day, they warned.

Crews are carrying out direct and indirect attacks using ground teams, fire engines, aircraft, heavy machinery and tractors to create control lines.

Operations are concentrated mainly in sectors 3 and 5, where firefighters are working alongside farmers and heavy machinery in the shallow valleys approaching Malpica de Arba in an effort to halt the fire's advance. Elsewhere, crews are focused on reinforcing the perimeter.

More than 400 personnel are involved in the operation. They include teams from Aragón's INFOAR forest fire service, Spain's Ministry for Ecological Transition (MITECO), the Military Emergency Unit (UME), Zaragoza's provincial and city fire services, and additional crews from Navarre, Castile and León, La Rioja, the Valencian Community and Catalonia. In total, 60 firefighting assets are deployed, including 19 aircraft.

INFOAR has deployed four helicopter crews and a coordination helicopter. MITECO has provided two FOCA amphibious aircraft, three specialist BRIF wildfire brigades (Lubia, Prado de Esquiladores and Daroca), an aerial coordination aircraft, another amphibious aircraft based in Reus and a water-bombing helicopter based in Plasencia del Monte. Two light helicopters from Navarre have also joined the operation.

Between 9pm and 11pm, winds are expected to shift to the north and north-west, with gusts that could exceed 40 kilometres per hour. Wind speeds should ease overnight, before northerly and north-westerly winds become established on Friday.

Relative humidity recovered to almost 80 per cent overnight but is expected to fall to between 20 and 30 per cent during the afternoon, reaching around 20 per cent by 8pm.

The area remains under a yellow weather warning for high temperatures, with maximums of around 35 degrees expected on Thursday, easing slightly to around 34 degrees on Friday.

INFOAR crews are also tackling two separate wildfires in Huesca province. At Peña Montañesa, a helicopter crew and a ground crew are deployed. At Castanesa, teams include a helicopter crew, a ground crew and a fire engine.