Portugal wildfires claim first victim, as Spain on wildfire alert
Further east, Greece was still fighting blazes on one Aegean island, but the situation had improved for several other southern European countries.
Portugal's President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa announced the death of the former mayor of the eastern town of Guarda, Carlos Damaso, who had been fighting the fires.
The president said he had cut short his holidays and returned to work, joining a meeting of the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority.
For days now, several thousand firefighters have been battling fires in various parts of the country.
Portugal, like Spain, has invoked the EU's civil protection mechanism to ask for help, requesting four firefighting aircraft to use until Monday, its presidency said on X.
In Spain, three people have died in the fires, including two young volunteers in their thirties who lost their lives trying to extinguish a blaze in the Castile and Leon area.
One of them, Jaime Aparicio Vidales, was buried in the town of Quintanilla de Florez, Zamora province, Castile and Leon, on Friday.
Much of the country has already endured nearly two weeks of high temperatures, and on Friday the searing heat spread to Cantabria, which had so far been spared.
Temperatures in the northwestern region were forecast to pass 40C, said Aemet, the national weather agency.
The risk of fires on Friday and over the weekend through to Monday was "very high or extreme in most of the country", it added.
'Nothing left to burn'
Spain has endured a devastating wildfire season, with 157,501 hectares (389,193 acres) reduced to ashes since the start of the year, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).
Yet that figure is still short of 2022, when more than 306,000 hectares went up in smoke.
On Thursday, France sent two water-bombing planes to help try to douse the flames in the northwestern region, where a dozen fires were still raging.
The railway line between Madrid and the northwestern region of Galicia remained closed, as well as 10 main roads.
Marco Raton, 35, works on a pig farm in Sesnandez de Tabara near one of the fires in Castile and Leon that forced several thousand people to flee their homes.
He and his friends did not think twice when they saw the fire arrive on Tuesday, he said.
They grabbed "everything we had, backpacks, fire bats and garden hoses -- put on appropriate clothing and went over to help", he added.
"As soon as we arrived, we started seeing burned people being evacuated, a car on fire, a burning tractor, warehouses, garages," he told AFP.
He felt "helpless", he added.
Raton had thought there was "nothing left to burn" after devastating fires in the same region in 2022. Now he was convinced that "this will continue to happen to us year after year".
The mayor of Ferreruela, Angel Roman, called for fire breaks of cleared brush to be established around the villages. "The countryside, if it's clean, can stop the fire," he said.
France on red alert
Meteorologists in France, meanwhile, put the southern department of Aude, where a devastating fire has already killed one person and injured several others, on red alert.
The fire, which broke out on Aug 5, has still not been fully extinguished and temperatures are expected to reach 40C there on Saturday.
"We are in a situation of extreme vigilance," said Lucie Roesch, general secretary of the local prefecture.
Further east, lower temperatures and reduced winds were helping to improve the situation in Greece and the Balkans, where rain was forecast in many parts of the region.
Firefighters remained in Patras, Greece's third-largest city, monitoring scattered outbreaks.
The most active blaze was still on the Mediterranean island of Chios, in the northeastern Aegean Sea, where eight aircraft have been deployed to try to douse the flames.
The risk of fire remained high in the Attica region that includes the capital, Athens, and the southern Peloponnese peninsula, the Civil Protection agency warned on Friday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNA
13 hours ago
- CNA
Spain to probe whether wildfire-hit towns drafted prevention plans
MADRID: Spain's environmental prosecutor has ordered officials to verify whether municipalities affected by wildfires complied with their legal obligation to adopt prevention plans, according to a document seen Thursday (Aug 21) by AFP. The move comes as tensions mount between Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government and conservative-led regional authorities over how to manage the fires that have scorched record amounts of land. Under Spain's decentralised system, regional governments lead the response to disasters, though the central state can intervene when emergencies escalate. The northwestern regions of Galicia and Castile and Leon, along with Extremadura in the west, have been hit hardest by the fires raging since early August in the scorching heat. Regional governments are required to draw up prevention strategies, but the newspaper El Pais reported the national government has yet to issue a decree establishing common criteria for such plans. In his letter to local justice officials across the country, Spain's environmental prosecutor, Antonio Vercher, argued it was "evident" that the scale of the wildfires stemmed from the absence or poor implementation of prevention measures. He urged local prosecutors to consider pressing criminal responsibility charges in the most serious cases. Spain faced similar controversy in October 2024, when deadly floods in the eastern region of Valencia sparked clashes between Sanchez's government and conservative regional leaders over accountability for disaster preparedness. Virginia Barcones, director general of emergency services, said Thursday that improved weather conditions should allow firefighters to make "significant progress" in containing the flames. More than 403,000ha have been burnt in Spain this year, according to the European Forest Fire Information System. That surpasses the previous record of 306,000ha in 2022, the worst season since records began in 2006. Scientists say climate change is driving longer, more intense and more frequent heatwaves worldwide.
CNA
a day ago
- CNA
Winds complicate wildfire battle in Spain
MADRID: High winds on Wednesday (August 20) hampered efforts to contain wildfires in Spain that have already scorched a record stretch of land despite lower temperatures, authorities said. Firefighters, backed by troops and water-dropping aircraft, were battling 21 blazes in the west of the country classified as "operational level two", meaning they pose a direct threat to nearby communities, said Virginia Barcones, director general of emergency services. "Temperatures have dropped, but strong gusts of wind continue to hinder firefighting efforts, and the lack of rain is not helping, though we hope that changes in the coming days," she told a news conference. Forecasters said winds were expected to ease later in the day, with higher humidity levels likely to help efforts. Rain was forecast in some fire-hit regions on Thursday. FIRES SPARKED BY LIGHTNING, ARSON ALSO SUSPECTED Spain endured a 16-day heatwave that ended Monday, with temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius in many regions. The heat-fuelled wildfires have killed four people. Dozens of villages have been evacuated. Train service between Madrid and the northwestern region of Galicia - suspended on August 14 due to the fires - would resume because "tracks are now safe", railway operator Adif said. Officials said many of the fires were sparked by lightning during dry storms, although arson is suspected in some cases. Aircraft from Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Slovenia have joined the firefighting effort. Germany sent 60 firefighters and 24 vehicles, France deployed 66 firefighters and 23 vehicles, while Finland sent 26 firefighters. Nearly 400,000 hectares have burned in Spain this year, according to the European Forest Fire Information System. That surpasses the previous record of 306,000 hectares in 2022, the worst season since records began in 2006. Scientists say climate change is driving longer, more intense and more frequent heatwaves around the world. Lower humidity in the air, vegetation and soil makes it easier for wildfires to ignite and harder to control them once they start.
CNA
3 days ago
- CNA
Record Spanish wildfires close part of Camino de Santiago route
ASTORGA, SPAIN: Spain's worst wave of wildfires on record spread to the southern slopes of the Picos de Europa mountains on Monday (Aug 18) and prompted authorities to close part of the popular Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route. "This is a fire situation we haven't experienced in 20 years," Defense Minister Margarita Robles told Cadena SER radio. "The fires have special characteristics as a result of climate change and this huge heat wave," she said. HEATWAVE AMONG LONGEST ON RECORD The heatwave spanning 16 days is the third-longest on record and sent temperatures up to 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) over the weekend, according to state weather agency Aemet. It is expected to start easing on Monday evening or Tuesday. Southern Europe is experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons in two decades, with Spain and Portugal among the hardest-hit countries. So far this year, an estimated 344,400 hectares (851,000 acres) have burned in Spain - an area equivalent to the size of the island of Mallorca, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS). It's the largest area on records that go back to 2006 and more than four times the 2006-2024 average. A firefighter died when his truck crashed near the village of Espinoso de Compludo, raising the death toll to four from the recent wave of fires. In Portugal, wildfires have burned about 216,200 hectares so far this year, according to EFFIS, more than four times the 2006-2024 average for this period, and two people have died. TROOPS, PLANES DEPLOYED The Spanish army has deployed 3,000 troops and 50 aircraft to help firefighters, emergency services general director Virginia Barcones said. Spain is also receiving or has been offered help from France, Italy, Netherlands, Slovakia, Germany and the Czech Republic through the European Civil Protection mechanism, according to the Interior Ministry. In the past week alone, about 20 wildfires have devastated thousands of hectares in the regions of Galicia and Castile and Leon, forcing authorities to cut rail services in the area, as well as a 50-km (30-mile) stretch of the Camino de Santiago, an ancient pilgrimage path trodden by thousands in the summer. It links France and the city of Santiago de Compostela on the western tip of Spain, where the remains of the apostle St James are said to be buried. 'TERRIBLE THING' Patrice Lepettre, a 75-year-old pilgrim in Astorga, told Reuters the inconvenience for hikers was temporary and could not be compared to the locals' plight. "It's a terrible thing for the population. The pilgrims can go back home and come another year to finish the Camino, but for the people who live here, it's a terrible thing," he said. Leaders of regions run by the main opposition People's Party (PP) have criticised the central government for poor planning and asked for more resources to fight the wildfires. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Sunday urged a "state pact" on climate change with all main political forces, which was dismissed as a "diversion" by PP spokesperson Ester Munoz on Monday. The Interior ministry said 27 people have been arrested and 92 were under investigation for suspected arson since June. In Palacios de Jamuz in the northern region of Castile and Leon, where a wildfire had burned down whole rows of houses, Delia Lobato was inspecting the damage and lamented the deaths of people and trees. "Such young people who had their whole lives ahead and who are gone, that's the hardest thing," she said.
