Firemen struggled yesterday to contain Spain’s largest wildfire of the year, while two firemen were killed battling a fire in southwestern France, as an extreme heatwave continued to fuel dangerous conditions across Europe, bringing drought and forecasts of severe hailstorms.
The fatalities occurred near an airport in the Gironde region, which was on high alert for wildfires, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said, two weeks after the death of another fireman in the Savoie region in the French Alps.
A separate wildfire in the Var department in southern France burned 500 hectares within hours and continued to spread in the direction of the nearby commune of Cotignac, local authorities said.
France’s Wildfire Prevention and Reporting Association (PSFDF) marked the fire as ‘out of control’. At least 150 people have been evacuated.
In Spain’s central Guadalajara province, a forest blaze raged uncontrolled for a sixth day, forcing the evacuation of more than 1,200 people.
Emergency crews worked to contain the flames as temperatures above 40C pushed fire danger to extreme levels, less than two weeks after Spain’s deadliest wildfire in decades killed 13 people near Bedar, in the southern Almeria province.
Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent and many scientists say human-driven climate change is increasing the intensity of heatwaves, droughts and wildfires, while also creating conditions for sudden, destructive storms.
Britain’s Thames Water said it would introduce usage restrictions for the 10 million customers it provides with drinking water in and around London, banning the use of outdoor hoses, sprinklers and pressure washers to conserve supplies.
England had received only three per cent of its long-term average July rainfall, with the south and east of the country receiving nothing at all so far – the longest spell without rain since the mid-1990s, the National Drought Group said.
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