Spanish wildfire rages for sixth day as evacuees start to return home

ESTEPONA, Spain: Firefighters struggled on Monday to extinguish a wildfire raging for six days near a Costa del Sol resort in southern Spain, but said they finally saw encouraging signs as some of the thousands of evacuees started returning home.

"The evolution over the last few hours shows hopeful signs but we have to remain prudent," fire brigade chief Juan Sanchez of the regional forest fire agency told reporters. About 1,000 firefighters backed by some 50 aircraft were working to put out the blaze that has already burned down 7,780 hectares (30 square miles) of forest since it broke out on Wednesday.