Latest news with #CastileAndLeón
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Climate
- The Guardian
Wildfires claim third life in Spain as intense heat continues across Europe
Wildfires raging across Spain have killed a third person as intense heat continues across vast swathes of Europe, forcing overwhelmed governments to call in support from their neighbours. A volunteer firefighter died after battling a blaze in Castile and León, authorities said on Thursday, after the death of a fellow volunteer in the same region on Tuesday. A man died on the outskirts of Madrid on Monday as he tried to save horses from a burning stable. 'Death strikes us again with the loss of a second volunteer who has lost their life in León,' Spain's prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said on Thursday. He thanked the 'heroes' protecting people from fires and said 'the threat remains extreme'. In Patras, Greece's third-largest city, firefighters pushed back a wildfire that had burned through the outskirts of the port and forced the evacuation of a children's hospital and a retirement home. Local media reported that a 19-year-old man who had allegedly confessed to starting the blaze was among a number of arrests made in connection to it. The Greek fire service spokesperson, Vasilios Vathrakoyannis, said the general situation had improved on all fronts after an all-night battle, but that a very high fire risk was still predicted for most areas of the country. 'Today is expected to be a very difficult day,' he said. Spain has become the fifth country in a week to activate the EU's civil protection mechanism to fight the fires. The European Commission announced that two planes stationed in France were expected to be deployed in Spain on Thursday. Greece is expected to receive two Swedish helicopters stationed in Bulgaria under the mechanism, which it activated on Tuesday, while Bulgaria, Albania and Montenegro – where a soldier died fighting a fire near the capital – have also received support from firefighters from several EU countries. The EU's civil protection mechanism, which coordinates responses during wars and other crises, has been activated 16 times during the current fire season. The number of activations is 2025 is already as the figure for the whole of the 2024 fire season, the commission said. Wildfires have burned more than 400,000 hectares in Europe so far this year, an increase of 87% compared with the average over the past two decades. France experienced its largest wildfire since 1949 last week. The two Spanish firefighters who died were using brush cutters to slow the spread of a fire when they were engulfed by the flames on Tuesday afternoon, according to the Spanish daily El País. The fire is poised to become one of the largest in the country's history. Strong and variable winds spread flames that trapped the two men, the newspaper reported. One man died within a few hours, while the other, who suffered 85% burns, died after a day in hospital. Six people remain in hospital in the region with burns and serious injuries, local media reported. Sign up to This is Europe The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment after newsletter promotion The deadly fires come as southern Europe suffers intense heat that has broken temperature records across the continent – made worse by fossil fuel pollution that traps sunlight and heats the planet – and which has dried out vegetation. 'It's obvious that climate change is exacerbating the severity of fires,' said Eduardo Rojas Briales, a forestry researcher at the Polytechnic University of Valencia and former deputy director general of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization. 'But it's not responsible to wait for greenhouse gas emissions to drop … as the sole approach to addressing the problem.' He called for additional policies such as ensuring dead plant material is kept at manageable levels, creating gaps in vegetation, for instance through reversing rural abandonment, and using prescribed burning. 'There is no alternative but to build landscapes … that are truly resilient to fires,' he said. A report published Thursday by XDI, a climate risk analysis group, found that the climate crisis has doubled the risk of infrastructure damage from forest fires in France, Italy, Greece, Romania and Bulgaria since 1990. It predicted risk would increase further still in future. 'We're all asking ourselves, how much worse can it get?,' said Karl Mallon, XDI's head of science and technology. 'According to our latest analysis, a lot.'
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Climate
- Daily Mail
Europe burns: 'Deliberate' wildfires force evacuations of 1,400 people in Spain as uncontrolled blazes injure several in Portugal and Mount Vesuvius is closed to tourists in Italy
More than 1,400 people were forced to flee their homes yesterday in north-west Spain as wildfires spread fast, driven by blazing temperatures and fierce winds. In and around Carucedo, roughly 400 residents were relocated, while another 700 were evacuated from towns close to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Las Medulas, once a Roman gold-mining location famed for its intense red terrain. Castile and León's regional leader, Alfonso Manueco, said arson is suspected in some instances. He wrote on X: 'We will be relentless with the perpetrators of these attacks against the lives and safety of people and our historical and natural heritage.' He also said the authorities will be 'merciless' with the arsonists. Spain's Military Emergency Unit has sent in nearly 60 troops and 20 vehicles to bolster a massive firefighting push that involves aircraft and bulldozers carving firebreaks. Fire crews warned that the heat, parched air, and shifting strong winds are hampering their efforts. Some homes have now been completely burned down, according to reports. Officials say the most troubling blaze is the one in Llamas de Cabera, where there were traffic closures on motorways due to reduced visibility from the smoke and dust. The flames are also raging in Galicia and Navarre as a second week of relentless heat continues. In Orallo and Fasgar, the fires have been given a Potential Severity Index of 1 for now. But in Ourense, raging flames have devoured 1,000 hectares of land. Forecasters reportedly failed to pick up on the cause of the devastation - dry storms, which come without rain and lots of lightning. It is also feared that latent lightning could make the situation worse. That happens when discharge from electricity from lightning is trapped in trees. Heat or wind could then cause a spark, leading to more wildfires. Thermometers have neared 40C across broad swathes of the country, prompting civil protection officials to raise wildfire risk to high or extreme. In Portugal's Vila Real, the mayor sounded the alarm over mounting resources to tackle a sweeping fire. Alexandre Favaios said: 'We are under enormous attack, with absolutely incalculable losses, the resources are clearly insufficient given the scale of what we are experiencing.' A blaze that began on August 2 in Sirarelhos was only declared contained on Wednesday, but reignited again on Saturday night and now threatens Relva, Borbela, and Lordelo near Vila Real. The mayor noted that the Vila Real district was already on red heat alert over the weekend, and that more ground units should have been in place. José Armando, president of the Parish Council of Borbela and Lamas de Olo, reported that at 6.15 pm, the village of Relva, on the slopes of Serra do Alvão, was among the most vulnerable. In Trancoso, four towns lie in the fire's path across four active fronts, while six people, including three firefighters, have been reported injured so far. Eleven people have also been treated at the scene for smoke inhalation. Operations commander Nuno Seixas told local media: 'Besides Seixas, to the north of the fire, there are villages affected by the fire, and security forces are taking whatever measures they deem necessary, whether to confine them to the village or to evacuate them.' The at-risk settlements include Rio de Mel, Rio de Moinhos, Venda do Cepo, and Celintrão, according to the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority. There are now more than 600 firefighters on the ground battling the blaze, according to reports on Monday morning. A spokesperson for the Beiras and Serra da Estrela Civil Protection Sub-regional Command warned that 'The fire is active again and is heading towards some isolated areas, with scattered houses.' Meanwhile, in Italy, tourist access to Mount Vesuvius has been halted as firefighters and military teams battle a significant wildfire on its slopes near Naples. The national fire service is fighting the blaze with 12 ground crews and six Canadair water-bombing planes, the Campania region said. Drones have been utilised alongside reinforcements from other areas, as attempts continue to starve the fire across 500 hectares in Vesuvius National Park. Park officials stated: 'For safety reasons and to facilitate firefighting and cleanup operations in the affected areas, all activities along the Vesuvius National Park trail network are suspended until further notice. Smoke has drifted all the way to the nearby archaeological site of Pompeii, though it remains open to visitors. Rising summer heatwaves linked to global warming are leaving European regions increasingly vulnerable to wildfires. Authorities in France have also said they are battling blazes that have killed one person and injured 25. Temperatures are expected to rise above 40C. At 11 am local time, some regions had already recorded up to 39C, according to Météo France. The country's health minister, Yannick Neuder, called Monday a 'high-risk day' and said the next 48 hours would be 'particularly difficult.' In July, huge blazes saw several houses burnt to the ground and two elderly people killed in Cyprus. There have also been out-of-control fires in Turkey, Albania, and Bulgaria. At the end of July, beachgoers on Italy's Sardinia Island had to be evacuated with boats as paths to flee were blocked by raging fires, and cars were set alight.
