Regional authorities in Valencia ordered the emergency evacuation of the community of Gátova on Friday after a forest fire sparked by lightning threatened homes.
Hundreds of residents received an urgent alert on their mobile phones instructing them to leave the area immediately and head south.
Gátova has approximately 450 permanent residents, but state broadcaster RTVE reported that the population doubles during the summer months. Television footage broadcast by the network showed flames burning close to residential buildings.
Emergency Evacuation and Transport
A second emergency alert notified residents to travel south toward Olocau and Bétera using the CV-25 highway, according to regional news outlet À Punt NTC. The town council prepared emergency buses departing from Hoyo park to assist with the evacuation as the fire advanced uncontrollably.
Gátova is a mountain municipality in the province of Valencia in eastern Spain. The town lies within the Sierra Calderona mountain range, where narrow access routes and dense pine forests make emergency evacuations critical during summer wildfires.
Fires in Sierra Calderona
The wildfire broke out late on Thursday night in Sierra Calderona National Park after a lightning strike ignited dry vegetation. Large forces of regional firefighters and military personnel were mobilized to bring the blaze under control.
Sierra Calderona is a protected natural park north of Valencia known for its Mediterranean woodland. Spain routinely deploys military emergency units alongside civil firefighting crews to tackle high-risk forest blazes.
Wildfire Impact Across Spain
The outbreak in Valencia comes during a damaging wildfire season across the country. More than 2,970,000 stremmata, equivalent to nearly 300,000 hectares, have burned across Spain in 425 individual forest fires since the beginning of the year, according to figures from the European Forest Fire Information System.
The European Forest Fire Information System tracks satellite data and fire metrics across European nations. Dry summer weather and seasonal heatwaves frequently increase the risk of lightning-ignited blazes in Spain's mountainous areas.
