After a very difficult night, the fight against the fire continues this Saturday in Las Peñas de Riglo (Huesca), where 1,021 people from 18 municipalities remain evacuated. The fire has ravaged more than 15,000 hectares, but in recent hours the firefighting teams have managed to prevent it from reaching the urban centers and the two monasteries, the new and the old, of San Juan de la Peña, whose relics and other valuable historical pieces have been moved to the Museum of Huesca. The judge sent the 28-year-old man arrested as the alleged author of the fire to prison without bail this Friday. The weather forecast indicates that it could rain over the area this Saturday and that temperatures will drop by up to five degrees, which may help firefighting efforts. The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has called on the social network X for “maximum caution” regarding the fires and has thanked the “tireless” work of the personnel fighting the flames.
The outlook is more positive for another fire declared this Friday in Aragón, in the Sierra de Algairén, between the municipalities of Almonacid de la Sierra and Alpartir (Zaragoza). The regional government has indicated that its evolution is favorable after burning 200 hectares and is stabilizing, which would allow Alpartir to be deconfined. Forecasts have also improved for the huge fire that has been active since August 6 in Niebla (Huelva) and has consumed more than 38,000 hectares. The Minister of Presidency, Health and Emergencies of the Junta de Andalucía, Antonio Sanz, said this Saturday that they have managed to “stop its advance for the first time in eight days” and that the evolution is favorable, although he called for “maximum caution” to be maintained.
The deployment in Las Peñas de Riglo (Huesca) has more than 600 personnel and about thirty aerial resources, according to the Government of Aragón. The objective for this Saturday is to contain the reproductions, consolidate the perimeters, and guarantee the safety of the populations and the monasteries. During the night, the fire reached the vicinity of Santa María de la Peña, Triste, Yeste Centenero, Binacua, Santa Cruz de la Serós, Botaya, and Atarés, but without surpassing the control line established by the operation.
In Botaya and Atarés, firefighting work is expected to intensify, both manual and with heavy machinery, as they represent “the hottest and most complex points” of the fire, according to the Minister of Finance, Interior and Public Administration of the Government of Aragón, Roberto Bermúdez de Castro, after the meeting of the Integrated Operational Coordination Center (Cecopi) this Saturday morning. The minister admitted that during the night “very complicated moments were experienced.”
“We must not be optimistic”
Bermúdez de Castro pointed out that the improvement in weather conditions offers an “opportunity” in the fight against the flames before temperatures rise again on Monday. However, the updated forecast for this Saturday shows “a very serious drop in precipitation,” he lamented. “We must not be optimistic,” he added, “but realistic.”
Personnel from the Government of Aragón, the Ministry for the Ecological Transition, the Military Emergency Unit (UME), and reinforcements sent from Catalonia, Navarra, La Rioja, the Valencian Community, and Castilla y León are working in the area, as well as firefighting crews from Huesca and Zaragoza, tractor drivers from the affected regions, Civil Guard patrols, a 061 unit, a Red Cross support team, and volunteer groups from Civil Protection of the Hoya de Huesca and La Jacetania.
The fire affects the roads A-132, A-1205, N-240, the paved track between the N-240 and Alastuey, the A-1603, and the HUV-3001, and keeps suspended the circulation on the conventional railway line between Sabiñánigo and Ayerbe.
