The fight against the devastating forest fires in Spain is yielding results.

In the region of Aragon, where thousands of people have been forced to evacuate and where the motorway connection to the capital Madrid has been cut off, authorities note that the fire near the town of Ateca has subsided.

The A2 motorway was reopened on Thursday.

”We are closer to a situation where evacuees can return home, but we must be careful,” says regional government leader Javier Lambán.

In the province of Zamora in northwestern Spain, the extensive fire that claimed two lives is now considered to be under control.

So far this year Around 70,000 hectares of land have burned in Spain – almost twice the average over the past decade, according to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

Spain, like much of Europe, has been hit by extreme heat in mid-July. Temperatures began to drop slightly on Wednesday, but new heat warnings with forecasts of around 40 degrees are in effect on Thursday in several parts of the country.

Source: TT-DI.SE