High winds could make fighting Spanish wildfires harder, officials say

MADRID, July 25 - Winds will pick up in Spain on Saturday, with gusts of up to 60 kph (38 mph), complicating the fight against out-of-control wildfires west of Madrid, the Interior Ministry warned.

Two separate wildfires in the Madrid region combined on Friday and became one huge blaze, but so far they have not merged with another in Avila, in the neighbouring Castilla y Leon region.

The fires have so far forced more than 30,000 people to flee their homes in the Madrid region and more than 20,000 to be confined at home, the ministry said on Saturday, in what officials have called the region's worst fire on record.

Overnight weather conditions had helped the firefighters.

"The change in weather conditions (less wind, higher humidity, and lower temperature) has greatly benefited the fight against the forest fires, which have advanced little and decreased in intensity," the central government in Madrid said on Saturday morning.

Plumes of thick smoke could be seen in the sky west of the capital.

More than 9,000 hectares have burned in the wildfires in the Madrid region, authorities said. REUTERS