A new fire in Aragon forces the evacuation of four municipalities and mobilizes a large extinction operation: "It is one of the fires with the greatest potential for destruction"

The forest fire that started in the Zaragoza region of Cinco Villas has already forced the evacuation of the towns of Orés, Asín, Luesia, and, since early Thursday morning, also Malpica de Arba. The emergency response team maintains level 2 of the Special Civil Protection Plan activated due to the rapid evolution of the fire.

The situation became complicated during the night, when the flames advanced along the left flank and managed to cross the A-1204 road, which forced a reorganization of part of the operation. With the first hours of the day, aerial means were incorporated to reinforce the extinction efforts in which personnel from Aragon, Navarre, the Military Emergency Unit (UME) and other resources that will be added throughout the day participate.

The Minister of Finance and Interior of the Government of Aragon, Roberto Bermúdez de Castro, already warned this Wednesday that the fire presents "one of the greatest potentials for growth and destruction" recorded in the community, a situation favored by high temperatures, changing wind, and low humidity.

Authorities keep other nearby municipalities under surveillance, such as Biel, Uncastillo, and Fuencalderas, while continuing to evaluate the evolution of the front. The priority of the operation remains to protect the population and prevent the flames from reaching new inhabited areas.

Military and aerial reinforcements

A section of the Military Emergency Unit has joined the Infoar operation, which has provided a Cougar helicopter and another aircraft prepared as a water bomber, in addition to thermal drones from the Civil Guard to monitor the different fronts of the fire. On the ground, the Red Cross attends to the nearly 400 evacuated residents, while the Ejea de los Caballeros City Council has enabled its municipal shelter and the sports pavilion as reception points.

A second focus in Huesca

With the Orés fire still active, Infoar has confirmed another fire in Peña Montañesa, in the municipality of Jaca, in Huesca, which emergency services attribute to the intense electrical activity of recent days, with several lightning strikes in the area.

One more fire in an already overwhelmed season

Spain faces one of the most serious forest fire seasons in recent years. According to provisional data from the Ministry for Ecological Transition (MITECO), by July 5, 50,750 hectares had been burned, more than double that in the same period of 2025. Meanwhile, estimates from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) indicate that the area burned this year already exceeds that recorded throughout 2024.

To these figures, we will still have to add the impact of the Los Gallardos fire in Almería, which is not yet reflected in the official balance and has been considered the most devastating of the year so far. The fire has left 13 dead, twelve foreign citizens and one Spanish woman, and some 7,000 hectares affected, while extinction teams continue to carry out surveillance and cooling tasks to prevent possible flare-ups.

By July 5, 4,984 incidents had been recorded, of which 15 exceeded 500 hectares, compared to the six recorded in the same period of 2025. Meanwhile, other fires have managed to stabilize in recent hours, such as those recorded in Peñarroya de Tastavins (Teruel) and Rubió (Barcelona), although high temperatures continue to favor the spread of fire in different parts of the country.