Lhe Puy du Fou leisure park reopened its doors this Saturday, June 18, after the forest fire which broke out yesterday in its surroundings, on the Zurraquín estate near Toledo, and which forced the evacuation of more than 3,000 people and hundreds of animals as a precaution. The flames, stabilized, had completely surrounded the installations, approaching up to “one meter” from the entrance to the park, reports the Spanish newspaper The Diario. Near the park, more than 900 hectares of land were devastated.
In total, “2,500 visitors and 700 employees” as well as “200 birds and 55 horses” had been evacuated, said the Puy du Fou press release. No one was injured or even “endangered”, adds the management of the park. The evacuation came as Spain, which has been dealing with an extreme heat wave for a week, faces several fires on Friday that have already burned thousands of hectares across the country.
Muchas de las 900 hectáreas ayer quemadas en el #IFToledo ya ardieron en 2019. Durísimo castigo, especialmente en las zonas que presentaban una mayor cobertura de encinar, hogar de corzos como los de la imagen. Mano lasted against the cause of the incendio. https://t.co/3Ba5lBrPcI
— Toledo Olvidado (@Toledo_Olvidado) June 18, 2022
Nearly 9,000 hectares of fire
The most devastating of them, fanned by “changing winds” in direction and “the heat”, burned nearly 9,000 hectares in the Sierra de la Culebra in the northwest of the country, according to regional authorities in Castile and Leon. This heat wave, unusual at this stage of the year in Spain, has caused an explosion in temperatures since last weekend, with peaks of up to 43 degrees, and is expected to last until Saturday.
Puy du Fou in Spain opened in March 2021 near Toledo, on the initiative of the Puy du Fou amusement park in Vendée, western France. The total investment planned for this 30-hectare park is 183 million euros. This project should create 687 direct jobs and generate 2,000 indirect jobs, according to the park.
