Man killed in Spain wildfire as heat wave rages in Europe

Time of India

3 days ago

Representative image
Wildfires burned in parts of Europe on Tuesday as millions of people across the continent struggled to adapt to searing heat waves, with temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).
Spanish broadcaster RTVE reported the death of a man who had suffered severe burns on Monday evening in the Tres Cantos municipality, on the outskirts of Madrid, and died shortly afterwards in hospital. According to the broadcaster, the man was around 50 years old, and 98% of his body was covered in burns.
Video footage showed firefighters battling flames in residential areas of Tres Cantos, a municipality north of the Spanish capital.
Where else in Spain are there fires?
Elsewhere in Spain, firefighters and nearly 1,000 soldiers were battling blazes in regions including Castile and Leon, Castile-La Mancha, Andalusia and Galicia. Thousands of people evacuated homes and hotels, including holiday-goers at beaches in the south of Spain.
On Tuesday afternoon, regional authorities announced that some holidaymakers could return to their hotels.
Meanwhile, in Portugal, more than 700 firefighters were working to control a fire in the municipality of Trancoso, located about 350 kilometers (217 miles) northeast of Lisbon.
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Smaller blazes occurred further north.
Wildfire in Turkey under control
Meanwhile, in northwest Turkey, firefighters had largely brought a major wildfire under control, the authorities announced, a day after the fire prompted hundreds of evacuations and led to the suspension of maritime traffic.
The blaze began on agricultural land in Canakkale province. Made worse by strong winds which fanned the flames, it soon spread to a forested area, then to a residential one.
It forced the evacuation of 2,000 residents — some by sea — and led to 77 hospitalizations due to smoke exposure, according to officials.
Firefighters were still battling two other wildfires in the Manisa and Izmir provinces in western Turkey, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli posted on social media.
France, UK on alert
France's national weather authority placed most of the country's southern region on the highest heat warning, with temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) expected for the second consecutive day.
Meanwhile, in the UK authorities are on red alert with temperatures expected to reach 34 Celsius (93.2 Fahrenheit) on Tuesday and Wednesday, especially in the south of England, including London.
Europe is getting hotter faster than any other continent, at twice the speed of the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Last year was the hottest year on record in Europe, the EU's monitoring agency said.
According to European Drought Observatory (EDO) data, 52% of Europe and the Mediterranean basin experienced drought for the fourth consecutive month in July.
Drought levels in the Mediterranean basin are the highest on record for July since 2012, exceeding the average for that period by 21%.