The forest fire that has burned about 120,000 hectares in Extremadura in western Spain since Thursday is on the decline. As a result, some of the 700 residents who were forced to leave their homes will be able to return to their homes, the regional authorities announced on Saturday.

“The situation on the Pinofranceado fire front is better than yesterday and the development of weather conditions may help in the next hours,” the head of the regional government, Guillermo Fernandez Vara, said in a post on social media.

Data from the European satellite system Copernicus (Copernicus) indicate that the forest fire burned about 120,000 hectares, while until recently the regional authorities estimated that the disaster involved an area of ​​80,000 hectares.

In the past hours, firefighters from Portugal joined forces with their Spanish colleagues in the battle to extinguish the large forest fire.

In 2022 Spain was the European country facing the worst fire nightmare, as almost 500 forest fires reduced more than 3 million hectares to ashes, according to EFFIS (European Forest Fire Information System).

The first quarter of 2023 was the driest since 1961 (when data began to be recorded), according to the Spanish Meteorological Service. A wave of unusually high temperatures followed in late April, with the mercury climbing to 38.8 degrees Celsius, reminiscent of a heatwave in the heart of summer.