Firefighters in Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Turkey are still working to control wildfires that have been burning for weeks. With hot and dry conditions expected to persist, the ongoing efforts to contain the fires are facing significant challenges.
Wildfires continue to burn across southern Europe amid an ongoing heatwave that has challenged efforts to contain the blazes, while temperatures are set to climb over the weekend, News.Az reports citing Euronews.
Spain is currently fighting 14 major fires, according to Virginia Barcones, general director of emergency services.
“Today will once again be a very tough day, with an extreme risk of new fires,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wrote on X.
Three people have died in Spain as a result of the fires, including two volunteer firefighters. Sánchez expressed support for the family of the second volunteer, who died in a hospital in León on Thursday after suffering severe burns.
The national weather agency AEMET warned of extreme fire risk in most of the country, including where the largest blazes were burning in the north and west. A heatwave which brought temperatures exceeding 40C on several days this month is expected to last through Monday.
Fires in the Galicia region forced the closure of several highways. The high speed rail line connecting it to Spain's capital Madrid remained suspended.
The fires in Spain this year have burned 158,000 hectares of land, according to the European Union’s European Forest Fire Information System. That is an area roughly as big as metropolitan London.
