“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'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'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.

From 20th to 24th June, the capital of Alicante province will be filled with magic everywhere you turn. From El Postiguet beach to the Castle of Santa Bárbara or the city centre itself, every corner of Alicante will be invaded by the acts that characterise these unique celebrations.

Throughout this week, the III Nocturnal Mascletás Firecracker Competition ‘Pólvora a la Nit’ will be taking place, along with the XXIII Official Mascletás Competition, and the LXV Firework Display Competition, all in the run-up to the biggest days of these emblematic celebrations.

So, starting on 20th June, the ‘Hogueras de San Juan’ programme of festivities will be getting underway with the ‘Plantà’ (setting-up) of the ‘Hogueras’ monuments for the children’s and adults’ competition, a particularly moving moment, for the ‘Bellea del Foc infantil’ child beauty queen, Chloe Estephan, and the ‘Bellea del Foc mayor’ or adult beauty queen of the festivities, Marian Guijarro, as is the Cremà or burning of the monuments.

So, starting on 20th June, the ‘Hogueras de San Juan’ programme of festivities will be getting underway with the ‘Plantà’ (setting-up) of the ‘Hogueras’ monuments for the children’s and adults’ competition, a particularly moving moment, for the ‘Bellea del Foc infantil’ child beauty queen, Chloe Estephan, and the ‘Bellea del Foc mayor’ or adult beauty queen of the festivities, Marian Guijarro, as is the Cremà or burning of the monuments.

At around 8 p.m. on 21st June, there will be a spectacular Floral Offering, followed by street parties held in the city’s special designated party areas known as ‘barracas’. The procession for the Floral Offering will be brought to a close by the ‘Bellea del Foc infantil’. And on the following day this honour goes to Marian Guijarro.

At 8.30 p.m. on 23rd June, Alicante will be holding its International Folklore Parade, a colourful procession that will delight onlookers and which is also one of the final activities taking place before the big day.

On 24th June, the people of Alicante will be celebrating the Cremà (burning) of the Foguera Oficial and Foguera Oficial Infantil in the square outside the Town Hall (Plaza del Ayuntamiento). It will then be the turn of the other monuments.

No-one has been seriously injured, but five guests were treated by the emergency services for smoke inhalation.

The fire broke out just after midnight in a room on the top floor of the “Tropical” and the emergency services were called in.

All the guests were able to return to their rooms when fire fighters had extinguished the blaze.

Details here.

The airplane landed safely about 45 minutes after departure and was evacuated. 4 passengers received injuries in the evacuation. Emergency services did not find any trace of fire, smoke or heat. Passengers began to report a smell of smoke on board some time after takeoff. The flight had to be postponed to the next day, the passengers were taken to local hotels. Norwegian Air Shuttle said they have no reports of injuries. A replacement Boeing 737-300 registration LN-KKQ was dispatched to Alicante and is on the way to Stockholm as flight DY-6802 with all passengers on board estimated to reach Stockholm with a delay of 20 hours.

via EMERGENCY LANDING FOR NORWEGIAN AIRLINER IN ALICANTE | Costa Blanca | Leader Newspaper – News, Sport, Advertising, Property, Classifieds – Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol, Costa Calida, Costa de Almeria, Spain.

The children´s grandmother and father were injured in the blaze while their mother escaped unharmed, public radio RNE reported citing local officials.

Investigators are trying to determine what caused the fire to break out in the fifth floor apartment in Spain´s fifth-largest city.

via Two children die in apartment fire in Spain.

The fire broke out around midnight on Monday in a third-storey apartment and spread throughout the building before being put out by firefighters.

Three women and two men were among the dead, with the sixth victim still not identified. Twenty people lived in the retirement home.

The 2.5-kilometre tunnel is to form part of a high-speed rail line linking Madrid with the region of Asturias.

The lining of the tunnel caught fire for reasons which were not immediately known.

Five workers were taken to hospital after inhaling smoke. Their lives were not in danger, the sources said.

via Fire in Spanish railway tunnel: 5 injured – Monsters and Critics.

Ricard Goma, acting mayor of the northeastern port city, said a woman of Peruvian nationality, her son and daughter and a Spanish woman who was married to her son, died on stairs after being trapped by flames and smoke.

Town councillor Elsa Blasco said the woman´s husband – the father of two of the deceased – had survived the fire thanks to a neighbour who stopped him from using the stairs.

Another 13 people were treated for smoke inhalation and the nine-story building was evacuated after Thursday´s pre-dawn fire in a ground-floor apartment, Goma said.

The cause of the blaze was under investigation.

Copyright © 2009 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

via The Canadian Press: Barcelona city hall says fire in apartment building killed 4.

The three story building on the corner of Calle Rodríguez Arias and Calle Alós, came down after midnight on Sunday night, and the search continues for more possible victims.

Local press has reported as many as nine people trapped. Emergency services say they have rescued one woman who was trapped in the rubble.

The reason for the collapse is at present unknown, but one of the possibilities under investigation is whether there was a gas explosion, although neighbours have told reporters that they have been complaining about the state of the building for some time.

Earlier on Sunday two other people lost their lives in a house fire in the city.