Firefighters battle 'fire whirls' in northern Spain

12/8/2025 6:21

Extreme heat and strong winds caused "fire whirls" as a blaze burned several houses and forced the evacuation of hundreds of people from near a UNESCO-listed national park in northern Spain, authorities said on Monday.



About 800 people were told to abandon their homes in half a dozen villages in the north of the Castile and Leon region, where several wildfires were raging.



Residents of the town of Congosta were spraying houses, trees and pavement with their garden hoses to fend off the flames that devoured at least two buildings, while police told them to prepare for evacuation.



The smoke was too thick for firefighting aircraft to deploy.