More than 600 people were Tuesday combating three wildfires which forced the evacuation of eight areas in eastern Spain, officials said. 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, dpa reported. Wildfires have devoured more than 20,000 hectares of vegetation in Spain so far this year.
