Latest news with #NationalEmergencyAndCivilProtectionAuthority
Malay Mail
2 days ago
- Climate
- Malay Mail
Portugal faces first fatality as wildfires rage across Southern Europe amid heatwave
MADRID, Aug 16 — Portugal suffered its first death yesterday from the fires raging there, as Spain's weather agency warned of a 'very high to extreme risk' of more wildfires there during Europe's intense heatwave. 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, yesterday. Much of the country has already endured nearly two weeks of high temperatures, and yesterday 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 yesterday 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 August 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 yesterday. In Albania, initial government estimates said thousands of cattle had been killed and 40 homes destroyed in just three days of wildfires. — AFP
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Climate
- Daily Mail
Former mayor is killed trying to defend Portuguese town from wildfire inferno - as apocalyptic blazes rip through Europe, ravaging Spain and Greece turning them into a burning hellscape
The former mayor of a Portuguese town has died after trying to fight dramatic wildfires which have ravaged Europe including Spain and Greece. President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa offered his 'heartfelt condolences' to Carlos Damaso, a victim of a fire he was fighting in his parish, asking that the current mayor of Guarda pass them on to his family. Mr Rebelo de Sousa added that he had cut short his holidays and returned to the presidential palace, joining a meeting of the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority. For numerous days now, several thousand firefighters have been battling fires in various parts of the country. Like its neighbour Spain, Portugal has invoked the EU's civil protection mechanism to ask for help, requesting four firefighting aircraft to use until Monday, the presidency said on X. Apocalyptic scenes have spread across Europe as dramatic wildfires bathe the countryside sickly orange, with blazes ravaging Portugal, Spain and Greece. One horrifying photo taken in the Sernancelhe district of Viseu, Portugal, shows a raging inferno and dark clouds of smoke threatening to completely submerge a house in flames. The sky is completely amber as an angry blaze continues to tear its way through the forest, making the air thick with smog. Nearly 4,000 firefighters are battling seven major fires across the country, in Tabuaço, Trancos, Sirarelhos, Sátão, Arganil, Vilarinho do Monte and Ermidas do Sado. Authorities extended the state of alert until Sunday, amid high temperatures expected to last through the weekend. 'We are being cooked alive, this cannot continue,' said Vila Real Mayor Alexandre Favaios, where a fire had been burning for 10 days. It comes as another heatwave pushes temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) across parts of Europe. Global warming is giving the Mediterranean region hotter, drier summers, scientists say, with wildfires surging each year and sometimes whipping up into 'whirls'. Firefighters in Spain and Greece continued to battle wildfires Friday on a public holiday in all three countries as persistent hot, dry conditions challenged efforts to contain the blazes. Spain was fighting 14 major fires. Temperatures were expected to climb over the weekend. 'Today will once again be a very tough day, with an extreme risk of new fires,' Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wrote on X. The national weather agency AEMET warned of extreme fire risk in most of the country, including where the largest blazes were burning in the north and west. A heatwave which brought temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) on several days this month was expected to last through Monday. Fires in the Galicia region forced the closure of several highways. The high speed rail line connecting it to Spain's capital, Madrid, remained suspended. The fires in Spain this year have burned 158,000 hectares or 610 square miles, according to the European Union ´s European Forest Fire Information System. That is an area roughly as big as metropolitan London. Spanish authorities reported the death of a 37-year-old volunteer firefighter who sustained severe burns in an area north of Madrid this week. It was the third reported death in Spain due to the recent fires. Thousands of people were evacuated from their homes in the region and still can not return. Temperatures reached 44 C (111 F) in some regions, according to meteorology service AEMET, with minimal rainfall and windy conditions expected to exacerbate the fire risk. In both Spain and Portugal it was the Feast of the Assumption, a major Catholic holiday usually marked by family gatherings and religious processions. A wildfire in Greece burned out of control for a fourth day on the island of Chios, prompting several more overnight evacuations. Two water-dropping planes and two helicopters were operating in the north of the island in the eastern Aegean Sea, where local authorities said a lull in high winds was helping firefighters early Friday. Following a series of large fires in western Greece earlier this week, the Fire Service was on alert Friday outside Athens and nearby areas in the south of the country where adverse weather conditions elevated the fire risk. The fire service said a major blaze outside the southern port city of Patras has been contained on the outskirts of urban areas after a large-scale deployment. Three people have been arrested in connection with the fire, which authorities said may have been deliberately set. A man also died in a fire in Albania, while a 61-year-old Hungarian seasonal worker is suspected to have died of heat-related causes while picking fruit in Lleida, in Spain's eastern Catalonia region. The spiritual leader of the world´s Orthodox Christians Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew expressed solidarity on Friday with the victims of wildfires in southern Europe during prayers for the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, an important religious holiday for Orthodox Christians. A drop in wind speeds on Thursday allowed firefighting aircraft in the three hard-hit countries to step up water drops, concentrating on existing fire zones rather than chasing fast-moving fronts.
