As Europe swelters under a heatwave, Catalonia is fighting one of its worst wildfires in two decades. Since starting on Wednesday afternoon, apparently in a waste pit attached to a chicken farm, it has affected up to 6,500 hectares (25 square miles), making it one of the worst Catalonia has faced in the last two decades.
One of the first stories to come from the area was of a farm where 200 sheep, four horses and a donkey died. The farmer, who'd been unable to save his animals, said the emotional loss was far worse than the economic. The images in this first video are explicit:
El Caso has interviewed some of those who had to leave their homes, who talked about the speed at which the fire spread. They don't know yet when they will be able to return home, nor what they will find there when they do. One local resident filmed the video below from their house that first night before they had to flee:
Numerous firefighters have been brought in from elsewhere to tackle the blaze, leading to the government warning they wouldn't have enough resources if another one were to break out on the same scale. The next video shows some of the techniques they're using to fight the fire:
Although the airborne resources might have to land, the work for those on the ground doesn't end with sundown but continues through the night:
In some places, however, they have help. The C-12 road, for example, acted as a firewall, giving the firefighters a chance to stop it spreading further east:
Then there's the question of what images we will be left with once the fire is out. Burnt forests and fields. Blackened earth. Sharp dividing lines of roads the flames couldn't cross. This video was filmed by Catalan news agency ACN from a Rural Agents helicopter: