Expert warns of rising heatwave, wildfire risks in Spain

The Star

3 days ago

BARCELONA, Spain, July 10 (Xinhua) -- People in Spain must strengthen their awareness of climate-related risks amid increasingly frequent and extreme events such as intense heatwaves and especially fierce wildfires driven by rising temperatures, a climate expert has warned.
Javier Martin-Vide, professor of physical geography at the University of Barcelona, told Xinhua in an interview on Thursday that Spaniards need to prepare for worsening climate conditions.
At the end of June and the beginning of July, temperatures soared to as high as 42 degrees Celsius in many parts of the country. This week, Spain's State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) warned of intense storms and flooding in some areas.
The professor noted that these elevated temperatures also increase the risk of wildfires. More than 3,300 hectares burned this week in the northeastern region of Catalonia, just days after 6,000 hectares - mostly farmland - were scorched in the same area.
"These conditions of extreme heat are usually very favorable for the development of large wildfires," Martin-Vide said. "We've already experienced one in Catalonia, a large fire that affected thousands of hectares, and it's possible that throughout the summer we will again see terrible images of fire affecting our forests and our crops."
He warned that high temperatures followed by extreme weather events are likely to persist throughout the summer, with evidence suggesting this trend will become increasingly common each year.
"Climate models tell us that in the coming decades the temperature will continue to rise, and this context of progressive warming helps make the episodes of extreme heat more frequent, more intense, more long-lasting, and also causes them to arrive earlier in the calendar," he said.
Martin-Vide also cautioned about the health impacts of extreme heat, especially on the elderly. According to Spain's health ministry, 2,020 people, 90 percent of them over the age of 75, died from heat-related complications last summer.