Spain uses another 500 soldiers to combat furious forest fires, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced on Sunday, while the country is struggling with a long -term period of burning weather. The new implementation contributes to the more than 1,400 troops that already fought with Blazes over dehydrated forest.
Authorities are particularly struggling to contain forest fires in the Northwest -Galicia region, where 12 large forest fires are currently active near the city of Ourense. Alfonso Rueda, head of the regional government of Galician, confirmed the seriousness of the situation during a joint press conference with Mr Sánchez. The country is also waiting for promised aircraft reinforcements from other European countries to help fire control efforts.
“Houses are still threatened, so we have lockdowns in place and perform evacuations,” said Rueda. Galicia has been fighting the spreading flames for more than a week.
The temperatures in Spain could reach 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas in some areas in some areas, said the Spanish national weather agency Aemet. On Saturday the maximum temperature was 44.7 degrees Celsius (112.46 degrees Fahrenheit) in the southern city of Cordoba, it said.
“This Sunday, when extremely high temperatures are expected, the danger of forest fires is extremely in most of the country,” said Aemet on the social platform X.
The fires in Spain have burned 158,000 hectares (390,000 hectares) this year, according to the European Forest Fire Information System of the European Union. That is an area that is about the size of the metropolitan London.
Europe has been warming up twice as quickly since the 1980s as the global average, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service of the EU. Scientists say that climate change worsens the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness in parts of Europe, making the region more vulnerable to forest fires.
Spain expected the arrival of two Dutch water-dumping aircraft that would join aircraft from France and Italy that already helped the Spanish authorities under a European cooperation agreement.
Fireers from other countries are also expected to arrive in the region in the coming days, the Chief Virginia Barcones of Spain told Barcones of the Public Omroep RTVE in the Spain.
National Rail operator Renfe said that the Madrid-Galicia High-Speed train services on Sunday due to the fires.
Galician authorities advised people to wear face masks and to limit their time outdoors to prevent smoke and axle inhaling.
Portugal is set for cooler weather in the coming days after a wave of serious forest fires. A national state of warning as a result of forest fires was established on August 2 and would end on Sunday, one day before two Swedish fire -fighting aircraft arrived.
Just like in Spain, the sources of Portugal are stretched. On Sunday, more than 4,000 firefighters and more than 1,300 vehicles were used, as well as 17 aircraft, said the civil protection agency of the country.
The scorched forest area so far in Portugal is 17 times higher this year than in 2024, about 139,000 hectares, according to preliminary calculations of the Institute for the Maintaining Nature and the Forests, a government body.
Greece, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Albania have also asked the EU fire force in recent days to tackle forest fires. The power has been activated so often this year as in last year’s summer wall season.
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