Asturias has activated this afternoon the alert level 2 of the Fire Protection Plan of the Principality (INFOPA) and has required the support of three Forest Fire Reinforcement Brigades (BRIF) by having 18 active fires or under review in fourteen municipalities, one of which threatens to reach four locations located near Oviedo.

Specifically, a fire declared this Saturday in the council of Las Regueras threatens to reach several houses in the towns of Soto, Bolgues and Pereda, as well as Ablanosa, located in the neighboring municipality of Candamo, as reported by the Emergency Service of the Principality (SEPA).

Two hours after the Principality activated level 1 of INFOPA, the regional government decided to raise the alert level by one more level due to the numerous fires that have been declared throughout a day with total absence of rain and high temperatures, and especially by the fire of Las Regueras.

Phase 1 of INFOPA is activated when fires require for their extinction means, procedures and protocols of habitual use, and the application of special operations, while phase 2 is launched when the fire can seriously affect the population and the help of extraordinary means is necessary.

To Las Regueras, which is where the fire that worries the most, the BRIF of Tabuyo has moved from León to fight the flames together with firefighters from the central park of La Morgal and Pravia, as well as personnel from a forestry company and several aerial means, including a seaplane.

The Principality has also required the support of the BRIF based in Tineo, which is acting together with firefighters from Cangas de Onís in a fire declared in Alea (Ribadesella).

A third BRIF, in this case that of Ruente, has moved from Cantabria to support the extinction work in Riopinoso, in the council of Valdés, where firefighters from Parres, Tineo and Civil Protection volunteers have also moved.

An extinction helicopter is also working in this same council to combat the fires declared in Biescas and Ferrera, where firefighters from Valdés and Barres have also moved.

Another helicopter and firefighters from Llanes and Cangas de Onís work on the fire declared in Aballe, in the council of Parres, where there is another focus in Dego that is being addressed by personnel of a forestry cooperative.

Fire teams from Cangas del Narcea are working on two fires that are active in Espinaredo and Foyedo, in Tineo, a municipality in southwestern Asturias where there is another fire under review, in the area of Lavadoira.

There are several active foci in the councils of Cabrales, Cangas del Narcea and Navia, as well as several more in the review phase in Villayón, Piloña, Navia, Llanes, Laviana and Grado.

The Principality had placed the INFOPA in phase zero last Sunday, before a weather conditions that helped to end the wave of fires that the community had been experiencing since March 23 and that, according to the first estimates, could have burned some 20,000 hectares.

The risk of forest fires being declared this Sunday in Asturias will continue to be "extreme" in 30 councils of the southwest, mountain range, Picos de Europa and part of the eastern coast, while it will remain "very high" in another 41 municipalities of the Principality of Asturias.

The seven councils of the westernmost end of the Principality will be the only ones that will remain at "high" risk, according to the indicator prepared daily by the General Directorate of Rural Infrastructure and Forestry.

The risk will be reduced compared to this Saturday, a day in which the risk is extreme in 51 municipalities, "very high" in another 20 and "high" in the seven of the western end.

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