The train was on its way from Valencia to Zaragoza on Tuesday evening when it suddenly ended up in a fire. There is a video of the forest fire on social media, made by a passenger. The driver stopped the train and asked the 48 passengers to stay inside. He wanted to go back to the last stop he passed, but before the driver could make his way to the other end of the train, panic broke out.
People broke windows to get out, and some got burns. Three people were seriously injured. Spanish media reported that one person was taken to a hospital in Valencia by shock helicopter.
Some of the fleeing passengers managed to get on the plane and board the train again. Others walked along the rails to the station in the town of Caudel, where emergency services received the wounded. All passengers who remained on the train were unharmed.
strong wind
The forest fire, which started near the town of Beijs northwest of Valencia, is spreading rapidly due to high winds, according to the fire department. The fire cannot be controlled. The Castellón Fire Department shared videos of firefighters escaping flames several meters high, fanned by gusts of wind. They shout “Run, run.”
Seguro que habrás oído hablar de incendios que, puntualmente,
Subran La Cabidad de Extinction. Mira Como Los Viven Los # fork cuando deben proteger vidas y bienes. La tarde del 16-08-22 quedara marcada para siempre como uno de estos incendios. #IFBejis pic.twitter.com/RdPpWMshDs– Bombers Dipcas (BombersDipcas) August 17 2022
So far, three firefighters have been injured. More than 2,000 people were also evacuated from Baijis and neighboring towns. The fire service fears that the fire has destroyed sixty square kilometers of nature. A large wildfire is still raging south of Valencia, said to have started with a lightning bolt on Saturday evening. More than 11 square kilometers of nature has already been lost there.
The high winds “greatly hamper the work of the firefighters,” said Zemo Puig, president of the Valencian Community. Puig says the fire is spreading quickly, and their sheer size makes them very difficult to control. He hoped the rains expected later this week would help.
extreme summer
Spain has already suffered about 400 wildfires this year, with more than 275 square kilometers of forest burning, according to estimates. This is four times the annual average, as measured by the European Forest Fire Information System since 2006. Several other European countries are also affected by wildfires this summer. Nature has really caught fire in the first seven months of this year compared to the whole of 2021, and it wasn’t a benign year.
A massive fire also broke out in Portugal, which appeared to be under control last week, due to high winds. The Portuguese fire brigade reported that despite the deployment of 390 fire trucks and fourteen planes and helicopters, it was having great difficulty fighting the fire. A natural park in the center of the country has caught fire and has already destroyed 25 square kilometers of the nature reserve.
Heat waves combined with prolonged drought make nature even more vulnerable this summer. These extreme weather phenomena, such as the increase in average temperature, are a direct result of climate change. Europe is also warming faster than other parts of the world. Scientists concluded in the journal in July that the number of heat waves in Europe increased three times more than in other countries in the northern hemisphere. Connecting with natures.
