Oviedo (EFE).- The Military Emergency Unit (UME) has joined this Wednesday the work of extinction of the more than sixty simultaneous forest fires that are recorded this Wednesday in Asturias, many of small size and in scrubland areas , although other sources of greater risk have made it necessary to carry out some specific evictions.
The worsening of the weather conditions, with strong gusts of wind and temperatures of up to 29 degrees, and the proliferation of new outbreaks -from 17 yesterday to 61 today- has led the Asturian Government to request the intervention of the UME and elevate the Forest Fire Plan to emergency phase two, reserved for situations in which fires could affect people or their property.
The UME has moved from its base in León to Tineo with a total of 95 troops and 40 vehicles.
In the operation, which will add some 500 troops, the Asturias Firefighters, the Tineo Forest Fire Reinforcement Brigade (BRIF), members of forestry companies and the natural environment nursery, as well as personnel specialized in investigation the origin of the fires.
Four people evacuated as a precaution
In fact, an elderly woman has already been evacuated as a precaution from her home in La Vallina, in Llanes, two more people in Llaneces, in the municipality of Allande, as well as the only resident of the Coucellín farmhouse, in Tineo, has detailed the Civil Guard, which has also cut the AS219 highway due to the dense smoke.
According to the latest information provided by the regional government, the evolution of the fires located in Lavadoria, in the Tineo council, is of concern; Torañu, in Parres, and La Matosa, in Piloña, where the firefighters are working.
The wind prevents extinguishing work on fires such as the one in Lavadoria, in Tineo, where defensive work is carried out but not extinguishing.
The Tineo forest fire reinforcement brigades, the preventive work brigade, and the Firefighters of the Emergency Service of the Principality of Asturias (SEPA), who will receive reinforcement from the UME, are now mobilized in this area.
The fire in La Matosa, in Piloña, has calcined a granary and is close to some houses, so the SEPA firefighters are working in the area with the help of a helicopter.
Almost all of Asturias, at extreme risk
According to the daily index published this Wednesday by the Ministry of Rural Affairs, practically all of Asturias is at extreme risk due to forest fires.
65 councils are at extreme risk, while the remaining 13 are at very high risk, all of them in the central and eastern coastal strip: Avilés, Cabranes, Caravia, Carreño, Colunga, Corvera, Gijón, Gozón, Llanes, Peñamellera Alta , Ribadedeva, Ribadesella and Villaviciosa.
The Government of the Principality activated the emergency phase of the forest fire plan on Thursday of last week and since then there have been multiple simultaneous outbreaks, most of them small, although the situation has worsened this Wednesday due to weather conditions. EFE