Spain and Portugal are fighting a wave of forest fires.
A firefighter died in the northwest of Spain, when his vehicle was overturned, the local authorities announced on Monday. The number of victims of forest fires in the country has thus increased to four, TASR reports according to AFP report.
Firefighters and the vehicle were part of fire -fighting operations in the Castile and León region, the regional government announced in a contribution to the Platform X. Spain has hit a series of fires that seemed to have caused a wave of summer heat.
“For an unknown reason, the vehicle approached the embankment and rolled over, and fell from a steep slope,” the statement said.
Spain has already issued a warning of heat for the third week, while the rescue units with the support of specialized military units are struggling with fires in the northwest and west of the country. According to the European Forest Fire Information System, 158,000 hectares have been destroyed this year in Spain.
Tragedy in Portugal
One fireman also lost his life in Portugal. So far, two victims have claimed fires in the country.
Portuguese President Marcelo rebelo de Sousa explained that the fireman died on Sunday in a “tragic” accident on the road after he was extinguishing flames that are plagued by the northern and central region of the country since the end of July.
Prevention and investment
After devastating fires in 2017, which claimed 119 victims across the country, Portugal increased ten times the investment in prevention and doubled the budget to combat forest fires.
According to government data, the amount of destroyed land was subsequently reduced to 54,000 hectares between 2018 and 2023. It is a third of the land that burned down between 2001 and 2017, writes AFP.
