About 9,000 hectares of forested hills in northwestern Spain have been burned by a wildfire, and more than 650 people from eight villages have been evacuated, AP reported.

Officials said the fire in the Sierra de Culebra mountain range in the province of Zamora began Wednesday during a dry electrical storm.

In other parts of Spain, small wildfires also raged in the central province of Toledo and in the northeastern provinces of Zaragoza and Lleida.

The risk of wildfires remained high in much of Spain on Friday as the country experienced the sixth day of an unusually early heat wave. Temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius were recorded throughout the week in many cities and other areas. The heat wave is expected to begin to ease on Sunday.