The fire occurred in the church’s crypt, a section always open and used for religious purposes. It caused no injuries and unknown damage to the crypt, authorities said.

Investigators arrested the man, a municipal spokeswoman said.

The church is closed to the public and will open when it is deemed safe to visit, the spokeswoman said.

The Sagrada Familia, or “holy family” church, is still under construction after more than 100 years. It was designed by Antoni Gaudi, an architect well-known for many buildings he designed in Barcelona. Only one tower and most of one facade at the church had been completed by the time he died ni 1926.

Gaudi planned the church to have 18 towers — 12 for the apostles, four for the evangelists, one for the Virgin Mary and the tallest for Jesus.

Jordi Fauli, the deputy architect, said the privately-financed work may be done by 2026, on the 100th anniversary of Gaudi’s death.

Asked once why it was taking so long to finish the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi replied, according to his assistants, “My client — meaning God — is not in a hurry.”

via CNN.com.

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Most of the evacuations were in Valencia province. They were taken as a precaution, the sources said, without giving the number of those who had to leave their homes.

Firefighters were concentrating their efforts in the community of Ontinyent, where about 1,200 people had been evacuated, the daily El Pais said on its website.

Smoke blocked several roads, and rail traffic suffered temporary disruptions. Officials did not exclude the possibility that the fires had been started by arsonists.

Wildfires have devoured more than 20,000 hectares of vegetation in Spain so far this year.

via Earth Times News.

Spanish police have arrested a Russian man suspected of causing a fire that killed more than 150 people in a packed nightclub in the Russian city of Perm last December, police said today.

The businessman, who was identified as Konstantin Mrykhin, was detained near his Barcelona home on August 31.

The suspect was believed to have fled to Spain to elude a possible prison sentence of up to ten years in Russia.

Mrykhin was held on charges of having organized fireworks inside the nightclub, where he worked as commercial director, to celebrate its eighth anniversary, according to Spanish police sources.

Several other people have also been charged in Russia with causing the fire. Mrykhin was expected to be extradited to Russia.

via Spain arrests man suspected of causing 2009 Russian nightclub fire | Earth Times News.

At least 700 people were evacuated from a beach on Spain's trendy holiday island of Ibiza on Sunday after a fire burnt 20 hectares of land, but no one was hurt, a television report said.

The blaze “trapped at least 700 people in the Benirras bay” in the north-west region of the island. They had to be rescued by land and sea, public TVE television said, quoting regional rescue services.

The blaze also reached a parking lot where “possibly up to 20 cars were caught in the fire”.

Firefighters from the nearby island of Majorca were sent to Ibiza to assist local firefighters.

The report said the evacuation by sea was necessary as the beach was difficult to access.

via News – Europe: Hundreds flee beach blaze in Ibiza.

Spanish firefighters today battled forest fires in the northwestern Galicia region which have already caused the death of two firemen and destroyed some 750 hectares, local authorities said.

They said two blazes, in the regions of Muxia and Camarins, were under control Monday, while others in Baiona, Vimianzo and Santa Comba had been extinguished.

The authorities said these fires had destroyed some 300 hectares.

Another blaze which broke out near the city of La Coruna during the night of Saturday to Sunday was still active, having so far destroyed some 450 hectares.

More than 200 soldiers from outside Galicia and 15 water-dropping aircraft have arrived to help the firefighters already in place.

On Friday, two firefighters died in a forest fire in Galicia that authorities suspect was deliberately set.

Galicia borders Portugal which is also battling summer wildfires.

via Forest fires ravage northwest Spain < Spanish news | Expatica Spain.

Two firefighters have been killed in a forest fire in the north-west of Spain, officials said.

The blaze broke out on Thursday night near Fornelos de Montes in Pontevedra province, according to the regional government of Galicia.

The government´s rural affairs department said that the circumstances of the two men´s deaths and the cause of the fire are not yet known.

Reports said the fire continues to burn and the regional president has cancelled all his appointments in order to focus on the blaze.

via The Press Association: Two firemen killed in Spanish blaze.

Two people died and another was injured in a fire on Wednesday at the Huelva refinery in Spain run by oil firm Cepsa, a company official said.

The official was unable to say whether production had been affected at the refinery in southeast Spain, which normally processes about 100,000 barrels of crude oil a day.

“The fire broke out on the production line into a tank. Plant and local firemen are working to put out the fire,” he said by telephone, adding the fire had since been extinguished.

Television pictures earlier showed plumes of smoke rising from the refinery and a worker being taken on board a helicopter on a stretcher.

“Cepsa expresses its deepest sympathy to the victims´ families and is at their and the authorities´ service in order to explain the events,” the company said in a statement.

Cepsa owns three of Spain´s 10 oil refineries.

via UPDATE 3-Two dead, two hurt in Spain refinery fire -Cepsa | Energy & Oil | Reuters.

“We are sending them planes right now,” Rubalcaba said.

About 1,000 firefighters and soldiers are battling 15 wildfires mainly in northern Portugal, according to the country&apos;s civil protection authorities.

The government has the capacity to deal with the fires despite “particularly adverse conditions” such as high temperatures, Portuguese Interior Minister Rui Pereira said.

But Rui Pereira also praised Spain&apos;s willingness to help.

A blaze ravaging pine forest and bush in the southern region of Setubal was now reported under control. Plans to evacuate the Setubal tourist village of Herdade do Montalvo were cancelled after the wind changed direction.

In the northern region of Guarda, flames were devastating an area where 12,000 hectares of forest, bush and farmland had already burned down in 2009.

Most parts of Portugal were on high fire alert amid temperatures of about 40 degrees Celsius.

via Earth Times News.

Around 200 people have been ordered to leave their homes in Estepona, near Marbella, following a forest fire which broke out on Tuesday evening.

The town Mayor, David Valadez, has told the EFE news agency that there is no imminent danger to the homes, but the National Police ordered the evacuation as a precaution.

The blaze is on waste ground close to the Puerto Romano urbanisation, close to the Rio Padrón. A strong westerly wind in the area is complicating matters for the fire fighters, and the fear is that the fire might extend when the two firefighting aircraft are taken out of service at dusk.

The INFOCA fire service fighters say that there are 81 fire fighters taking part.