Spain battles wildfires fuelled by one of earliest heatwaves on record

One blaze has burned 25,000 hectares of Sierra de la Culebra, home to one of Europe's largest wolf populations

Flames licked roads and coloured the sky orange as firefighters in northern Spain scrambled to contain dozens of blazes fuelled by one of the earliest heatwaves on record.

In the Sierra de la Culebra mountain range in the north-western province of Zamora, flames devoured more than 25,000 hectares, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents from 18 municipalities.