Hundreds of firefighters backed by helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft struggled Saturday to contain one of Spain’s deadliest wildfires that killed a least 12 people.
A combination of light winds and high humidity are helping crews but the sheer size of the fire still poses challenges, Antonio Sanz, head of Andalusia’s emergency services, said. The fire has scorched some 66 square kilometers (25 square miles) of forest and farmland, about the size of Manhattan.
Sanz said fire crews carried out controlled burns overnight around the perimeter of the fire, which broke out late Thursday in a semi-arid area near the Sierre de Los Filabres mountains in in Almeria province, just as Spain was sizzling.
Most of the victims, who are believed to be foreign nationals, died after ignoring shelter-in-place instructions, authorities said. Seven people died while on foot after abandoning their cars.
Four of the dead were believed to be British because the steering wheel of their burned-out car was on the right side, as with British vehicles, regional authorities said.
Sanz said Saturday that authorities had completed autopsies and DNA samples were collected to identify them.
Authorities proactively evacuated 1,448 people from some 11 areas.
Jeffrey and Christine Kember were watching a favorite TV show in their Los Pinos farmhouse when the blare of a siren alerted them to the fire.
Jeffrey Kember said at the sight of the advancing flames, both he and his wife jumped into their respective cars while also trying to help a neighbor with two toddlers.
He described how the couple got separated and how he was unable to speak to his wife because she didn’t have a phone on her.
“I’m driving through the flames. It was actually flames. I though, ‘I can’t stop, I just gotta go,” Jeffrey Kember told The Associated Press, with his wife next to him outside an evacuation center.
“It was eerie because all of a sudden I came out of the flames and it was all bright sunshine. It was like surreal. Ridiculous!”
Meanwhile, Spanish authorities arrested two people for ignoring evacuation orders and returning to a high-risk area, according to Spain’s official EFE news agency. Authorities are still combing through the Bédar area in search for any victims.
