Heatwave and wildfire warnings hit Europe: Where is at risk and how to stay safe

ITV News

a day ago

Spain and Portugal is under a state of alert, with another heatwave triggering more wildfire warnings across the region.
While the UK has been lashed by Storm Floris, other European countries have been battling extremely high temperatures.
UK tourists travelling abroad are advised to plan ahead and be aware of the risk of fires in parts of Europe.
What areas are affected by the heatwave?
Spain's State Meteorological Agency issued warnings to 12 areas, with high temperatures expected to continue until at least Sunday.An orange alert level, which indicates a significant risk, has been issued in Andalusia, Castile-La Mancha, Extremadura, Galicia and Madrid with temperatures expected to hit 42 degrees.
The slightly less severe yellow level alert is in place in Aragon, Cantabria, Castile and León, Catalonia, Navarre, the Basque Country and La Rioja.
In Portugal, five regions are under red alert due to hot weather while most of the country is under an orange warning with temperatures expected to hit 40 degrees.Mainland Portugal has also entered a state of alert due to the high risk of fire in the coming days.
Elsewhere, high temperature warnings have been issued for Sardinia in Italy and parts of southern Romania.
Where is the risk of wildfires?
According to the European Forest Fire Information System, extreme conditions and wildfire risk are forecast for the next seven days across the Iberian Peninsula, southern France, the Mediterranean coast -including southern Italy, the Balkans and Greece - Bulgaria and Romania.
Over the past few days, thousands of firefighters have battled blazes in central and western Spain and in the north of Portugal.
Authorities are worried the fires could be reignited in the current heatwave.
Wildfires in Southwestern Bulgaria are also still smoldering after the country's largest fire in years destroyed 4,500 hectares of land and forest.
So far this year, wildfires have raged in Europe, including in Turkey, Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Spain, Portugal and France.
Already this year 1,478 fires have been detected across Europe, compared with 1,030 fires in the same period last year.
How can you look after yourself in the heat?
The main health risks from a heatwave are dehydration, overheating, heat exhaustion and heatstroke.
According to the NHS, the people most at risk of heat-related illnesses are people over the age of 75, babies and children, and people with serious or long-term health conditions including heart or lung issues, diabetes, kidney disease and Parkinson's disease.
For British tourists travelling to these locations, the medical advice is to keep out of the heat as much as possible.
If you are outside, stick to the shade, wear sunscreen and light, loose clothing and avoid alcohol, caffeine and activity that increases your heat.
It is also important to cool yourself down with cold drinks, taking a cool shower or putting cool water on your skin and clothes.
Have heatwaves been worse this year?
Many heat records have been broken across western Europe this year, with heatwaves showing no signs of easing yet.
But even typically colder Nordic countries have experienced long periods of hot weather this summer.
Helsinki's record-breaking heatwave saw the city live through 22 consecutive days of temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius.Prior this summer, the record for consecutive days over 30 degrees was 13 days in a row during June–July in 1972.