France, Italy, Slovakia and the Netherlands help combat the flames in Spanish territory; Portuguese nation receives help from Sweden and Morocco
Thousands of firefighters, supported by military, helicopters and aircraft from neighboring countries, work on Monday (18) to combat more than 20 fires in western and, which have already left six dead, while the heat wave that fed the flames approaches the end. “We currently have 23 active fires in operational situation two,” which indicates a serious and direct threat to the population, told TVE Virginia Boatnes, Director-General of Civil Protection and Emergencies of Spain.
The fires in Spain, now in their second week, are concentrated in the regions of Galicia, Castilla y León and Extremadura, where thousands of people abandoned their homes and tens of thousands of hectares were burned.
End of scorching heat
The Spain National Meteorological Agency (Aemet) reported that this Monday was the “last day of the heat wave”, which already lasts two weeks with temperatures of up to 45 ° C in southern and 40 ° C parts in many other locations.
Air resources from, Italy, Slovakia and the Netherlands help fight flames in Spain, while Portugal receives air support from Sweden and Morocco. “It is a very difficult, very complicated situation,” said Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles, to TVE, referring to the “virulence” and “magnitude” of fires, and the smoke, visible of space, which makes it difficult to “air action”. “Due to the amount of smoke in the air, it is recommended to use a mask,” warned Benavente City Hall.
Two deaths elevate total to six
In Spain, a firefighter died on Sunday night (17) when the vehicle he was driving, transporting water, overturned in León province, the local government said on social network X. The vehicle was part of a train that left the fires to rest in a steep part of the forest and eventually plummeted.
Two other men, volunteer firefighters, died in Castilla y León as they fought the flames, and before that, a Romanian employee from a hypisty center north of Madrid lost his life while trying to protect the horses.
In Portugal, a firefighter died on Sunday in a “traffic accident” that left “two serious injuries” among his colleagues, said the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in a statement that honors the “tireless dedication” of those who fought the fire. This was the second death in the country, after a former mayor who fought the flames died on Friday (15) in Guarda, east of the country.
Portugal faces mainly a large fire near Arganil, downtown, where half of the 2,000 firefighters mobilized to extinguish flames in the country.
Record
More than 343,000 hectares have been burned in Spain since the beginning of the year, a growing number that has exceeded the total of hectares burned in the worst year, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (Effis). The year 2022 was so far the worst year in terms of area devastated by fires in Spain, with 306,000 hectares burned.
Portugal has the European record since the beginning of the records in 2006, with 563,000 hectares burned in 2017, in fires that caused 119 deaths.
*With information from AFP
Posted by Nicolas Robert
