Dilip Kuner
THOUSANDS thousands of exhausted firefighters are battling wave after wave of blazing infernos as scorching heat grips the Iberian Peninsula.
Blazes have been tearing through parched countryside for days, with emergency crews racing to contain the flames before temperatures soar even higher this weekend.
In central Spain, troops from a specialist military unit joined fire crews in Avila province, where flames near the mountain town of El Arenal – just 100km from Madrid – threatened to spiral out of control.
Further west, in Caceres, a fire that devoured more than 2,500 hectares was finally stabilised yesterday, allowing evacuated locals to return home.
But just across the border, Portugal is burning too.
More than 2,000 firefighters have been deployed across the country – particularly in the north – where vast areas of forest are alight.
The region is now on high alert, with forecasters warning the worst may be yet to come.
Spain’s weather agency AEMET says central and southern parts of the country could sizzle past 40°C by Sunday, while Portugal is expecting to see highs in the upper 30s from Saturday onwards.
READ MORE:
- Manhunt underway for suspected ‘pyromaniac’ who caused mass evacuations as forest fires pepper swathes of Spain
- Forest fires in Spain: Growing blaze claims firefighter’s life in Avila
- Wildfire near Spain’s Madrid burns 3,200 hectares as residents flee and farmers fight flames
And while June already saw record-breaking temperatures, the total land scorched by wildfires this year is – incredibly – still lower than in previous summers.
But experts say it’s no time to celebrate.
Europe is heating up faster than any other continent on Earth – warming at double the global average since the 1980s.
Scientists have warned that climate change, fuelled by the burning of oil, gas, coal and rampant deforestation, is turning southern Europe into a tinderbox – drier, hotter, and more fire-prone by the year.
With searing heatwaves becoming the new normal, firefighters are already bracing for a brutal August.
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