Wildfires have spread dangerously close to capital cities including Madrid and Athens in the past week, as data shows the number of blazes in Europe has jumped by nearly 50 per cent compared with last year.
Firefighters are tackling fires in Spain, Portugal, France, Turkey, Greece and Montenegro as temperatures in parts of southern Europe rise above 40 degrees and countries issue heat warnings.
In Greece, thousands of people have been evacuated because of the fires, including from the western Peloponnese region near Patras and the holiday islands of Zakynthos and Kefalonia.
More than 8,000 people had to be evacuated in Zamora and León in northwest Spain because of the flames, according to Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, head of the regional government.
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Spain’s interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said in a radio interview on Wednesday evening that he has alerted the EU in case the country needs help. “We have warned the EU of the need for additional resources, so that it is aware there will be a request at some point if circumstances become even more complicated.” In another radio interview, he said he had asked the EU for two Canadair firefighting planes.
The threat across most of the Iberian Peninsula, southern France, Slovenia, Hungary, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and the rest of the Balkans was “particularly severe”, agencies said.
[ Wildfires fanned by heatwave and strong winds rage across EuropeOpens in new window ]
Europe has grappled with several heatwaves over the summer. They have fuelled droughts and wildfires, as well as putting a huge strain on energy systems.
Akshay Deoras, a research scientist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science and Department of Meteorology at Reading university in Britain, said the heatwaves were drying out soil and vegetation, “turning landscapes into tinderboxes”.
“Heatwaves are becoming more intense and frequent due to climate change, which means climate change is directly fuelling wildfires. What we are seeing across Europe right now is a clear example of how extended hot and dry conditions are making wildfires fiercer and harder to control.”
[ France’s largest wildfire in decades leaves trail of devastationOpens in new window ]
Data from the European Forest Fire Information System this week showed that more than twice the area across Europe has been burnt by wildfires this year, or some 410,000 hectares compared with less than 189,000 hectares last year.
Two people have died in Spain, including a 35-year-old volunteer firefighter in Castile and León. The other Spanish victim died after a fire erupted on the outskirts of Madrid.
[ Heatwave in Europe: Wildfires force evacuation of 6,000 in SpainOpens in new window ]
Some residents have been evacuated from the outskirts of Madrid because of the fires.
Several fires have also broken out in Portugal, while the US embassy in Montenegro warned on Tuesday that a wildfire near the capital Podgorica could spread closer.
Last month was the third warmest July on record globally, beaten only by 2023 and 2024. The European continent is warming faster than the global average. – Financial Times
