Spain battled 14 major fires driven by high winds and aggravated by heat yesterday as authorities warned of ‘unfavourable conditions’ to tackle flames that have already killed seven people and burned an area the size of London.
Firemen have been battling to put out blazes across southern Europe in one of the worst summers for wildfires in 20 years. And a nearly two-week heatwave and southerly winds were worsening the situation in Spain, Virginia Barcones, director general of emergency services, said yesterday.
“In the western part of the country the situation is extremely worrying,” Barcones said on RTVE.
In Galicia, several fires converged to form a large blaze, forcing the closure of highways and rail services to the region.
As fire spread from Galicia’s Ourense province to neighbouring Zamora, provoking evacuations, some stayed behind to protect their homes.
“We are waiting for the fire to come down to try and stop it, so it does not get to the houses,” Loli Baz, 52, told Reuters from the village of Villanueva de la Sierra in Zamora.
Spain’s national weather agency AEMET warned of extreme fire risk in the north and west of the country, as temperatures are expected to reach up to 40C on the north coast.
“Today will be another very difficult day, with an extreme risk of new fires,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on X.
A fire near Molezuelas de la Carballeda in the Castile and Leon region – one of the largest in Spain’s history – had not advanced since Thursday.
That wildfire had, at one point, been spreading by 4,000 hectares per hour, said Eduardo Diego, national government representative for the region.
A fire near Badajoz in the Extremadura region, meanwhile, burned 2,500 hectares in a few hours before being brought under control.
“It was very fast with enormous growth, but it has been possible to tackle it,” Jose Luis Quintana, the national government representative for the region, told RTVE.
The fires caused the closure of more than half a dozen roads on a busy bank holiday weekend, leaving travellers stuck at the height of summer holidays.
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