Homes evacuated and traffic cut off as forest fires blaze in Andalusia

Some 240 people have been evacuated from their homes in the town of Bédar in the southern province of Almería because of the risk posed by a fire in a nearby forest, officials said Sunday.

The fire broke out on Saturday on a hill covered with pine trees. Firefighters were still laboring to put out the blaze on Sunday with the aid of a military emergency team. There were no reports of injuries, although inhabitants of the neighborhoods of El Alvarico, La Serena and Los Pinos were moved out of their homes as a precautionary measure, spending the night with relatives or in a local sports center.

Traffic between kilometers two and five of the AL-6109, which links Los Gallardos to Bédar was also cut off.

In a separate development, four neighborhoods and a hotel on Saturday were also evacuated around the southern resort town of Estepona, Málaga, because of a fire in nearby scrubland and low-lying hills.

Firefighters managed to bring the fire under control later in the day, with no injuries reported. A section of the A7 highway was also cut off for a number of hours because of the fire.

Spain is suffering its worst summer for wildfires in the last decade, with blazes across the country.