2 days ago
Spain on heat alert and 'very high to extreme' fire risk
MADRID: All of Spain was on a heatwave alert on Friday (Aug 15), while the weather agency warned that much of the country was at "very high to extreme risk" from wildfires.
Nearly two weeks of high temperatures have left Spain sweltering, and on Friday spread to Cantabria, which has so far been spared from the searing heat.
Temperatures in the northwestern region were forecast to pass 40 degrees Celsius, the national meteorological agency, Aemet, said.
The risk of fires on Friday and over the weekend into Monday is "very high or extreme in most of the country", it added.
Spain has endured a devastating season of fires, with 157,501 hectares reduced to ashes since the start of the year, according to data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).
Yet that figure is still well short of 2022, when more than 306,000 hectares went up in smoke.
Three people have died during the fires, including two young volunteers in their thirties who lost their lives trying to put out a fire in the Castile and Leon area.
On Thursday morning, France sent two water-bombers 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 some 10 main roads in the country.
Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned that Friday would again be "very difficult, with an extreme risk of new fires".
"The government remains mobilised with all resources to contain the fires. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to those who are on the front line fighting to protect us," he wrote on the social media platform X.
Sanchez's PSOE and the conservative PP have clashed in recent days over the crisis, with regional administrations normally tasked with putting out forest fires.
The central government only intervenes in major incidents and can call on an emergency military unit, which has been in high demand as reinforcements across the country.
The PP accuses the government of having cut the number of air assets but the PSOE denied doing so and has criticised opposition leaders, accusing some of being on holiday while their regions burn.
