"The end is near" of the fires that have been ravaging Spain for two weeks, claiming the lives of four people and destroying hundreds of thousands of hectares of land, the director general of the Civil Protection Service, Virginia Barcones, told public broadcaster TVE today, quoted by Agence France-Presse, BTA reports.
"There are not many (fires) left and the end is near", Barcones said.
However, she added that these fires are very "insidious" and a final effort is needed to deal with "this terrible situation".
"The general feeling is that things are improving, that the situation is developing favourably, that the worst is over", she added.
However, she said, "18 active forest fires are still burning, 17 of which are in operational situation 2+", meaning they are still posing a danger to people and homes. One of them, in the northwestern province of Castile and Leon, is still "particularly threatening", she added.
Hundreds of people and numerous villages remain evacuated due to fire threats, but many residents have been able to return to their homes in the past 24 hours.
These major fires have mostly affected the western half of the country, including provinces such as Galicia, Castile and Leon and Extremadura. They flared up during a 16-day heat wave with temperatures reaching 40° in the country and even 45° in some southern regions.
With the end of this heat wave, higher humidity and weaker winds, "conditions are more favorable" for extinguishing the fires, Barcones said.