Many people moved to safety due to Spain wildfire

Spanish authorities on Sunday preventively removed nearly 1,500 residents from the towns of Jubrique, Genalguacil and four other villages as the battled continued to contain a major wildfire that was burning for a fourth day.

Soldiers were deployed in southeastern Spain to join the fight against against the blaze, invigorated by stray embers that sparked a new hot spot.

The fire in the Malaga province has destroyed nearly 7,000 hectares (17,300 acres) of forest and prompted fresh evacuations, bringing the total number of residents displaced to around 2,500.

Over 1,000 more people had already been evacuated before the weekend from other areas surrounding the resort town of Estepona, popular among tourists and foreign expats.

An emergency brigade traveled from the military base of Morón, in southern Spain, to join more than 300 firefighters and 41 water-dropping aircraft battling the flames.

Plan Infoca, the Andalusia region's agency in charge of firefighting efforts, described Sunday as a "key day" for bringing the blaze under control.

Wildfires are common in southern Europe during the hot, dry summer months. But have been particularly numerous around the Mediterranean this year, worsened by the intense August heatwaves. Some of them grow into so-called mega-fires, which are catastrophic events that kill and blacken broad areas and are hard to stop.

In Spain, over 75,000 hectares (186,000 acres) of forest and bush areas have burned in the first eight months of the year, according to official data from Spain's Ministry of Ecological Transition.

IMAGE: AP