Madrid: Around 1,500 people have been evacuated from their homes as the result of a wild fire which has affected part of the Montgo national park, close to the coastal town of Javea in the province of Alicante.
Those who have been evacuated are being housed in the local sports hall, while the road between Javea and the nearby town of Denia has been closed as a precautionary measure, Xinhua reported.
The fire began on Thursday afternoon, through causes which have yet to be determined and spread as a result of a strong wind and favourable dry conditions after a long spell without rain in the area.
The representative for the regional authority Luis Santamaria confirmed to Spanish TV network RTVE that the Spanish Military's Emergency Military Unit (UME) is collaborating in firefighting duties and the UME confirmed they have sent 82 soldiers and 29 vehicles to help extinguish the flames.
The Regional Authority Emergency Service has put five fire-fighting aircraft to work to douse the fire.
Meanwhile, the Red Cross have also been working with a boat from Spain's Maritime Rescue Services to help evacuate anyone trapped by flames in the narrow bays and coves along the coast.
2014 has been a destructive year in terms of wild fires in Spain, with the ministry of agriculture and environment confirming earlier in the week that 39,410 hectares of land have been ravaged by fire in the first eight months of the year.
The amount of land damaged rose 15 per cent over the same period in 2013 and was provoked by a total of 8,131 different fires, of which 2,571 burned an area of at least a hectare.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed - IANS)