The burned landscape after a wildfire in Torre de l'Espanyol, near Tarragona, Spain, Thursday, June 27, 2019. The Catalonia region of Spain has seen ...
The burned landscape after a wildfire in Torre de l'Espanyol, near Tarragona, Spain, Thursday, June 27, 2019. The Catalonia region of Spain has seen its biggest forest fire this year, with more than 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) believed to have been burned and hundreds of people evacuated.(AP Photo/Jordi Borras)
A burned farm tractor lays destroyed after a wildfire swept through Torre de l'Espanyol, near Tarragona, Spain, Thursday, June 27, 2019. The Cataloni...
A burned farm tractor lays destroyed after a wildfire swept through Torre de l'Espanyol, near Tarragona, Spain, Thursday, June 27, 2019. The Catalonia region of Spain has seen its biggest forest fire this year, with more than 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) believed to have been burned and hundreds of people evacuated. (AP Photo/Jordi Borras)
Smoke rises from the burned landscape after a wildfire in Torre de l'Espanyol, near Tarragona, Spain, Thursday, June 27, 2019. The Catalonia region o...
Smoke rises from the burned landscape after a wildfire in Torre de l'Espanyol, near Tarragona, Spain, Thursday, June 27, 2019. The Catalonia region of Spain has seen its biggest forest fire this year, with more than 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) believed to have been burned and hundreds of people evacuated. (AP Photo/Jordi Borras)
Local villagers overlooked a burned landscape after a wildfire in Torre de l'Espanyol, near Tarragona, Spain, Thursday, June 27, 2019. The Catalonia ...
Local villagers overlooked a burned landscape after a wildfire in Torre de l'Espanyol, near Tarragona, Spain, Thursday, June 27, 2019. The Catalonia region of Spain has seen its biggest forest fire this year, with more than 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) believed to have been burned and hundreds of people evacuated.(AP Photo/Jordi Borras)
MADRID (AP) — Hundreds of firefighters are struggling to contain a wildfire in northeastern Spain that has spread over 5,500 hectares (13,590 acres) and forced the evacuation of 53 residents.
A Spanish military unit with 120 specialists has joined local firefighters, who had worked overnight to control the blaze that is raging in difficult hilly terrain near the Ebro River.
Miquel Buch, the regional interior minister, said Thursday 20,000 hectares are under threat in what is the worst fire in the Catalonia region in two decades.
Buch says authorities suspect the cause of the outbreak was a deposit of improperly stored manure.
Firefighters say that high temperatures and a drop in humidity will likely fan the flames.
