ASTORGA, SPAIN: Spain’s worst wave of wildfires on record spread to the southern slopes of the Picos de Europa mountains on Monday (Aug 18) and prompted authorities to close part of the popular Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route.
“This is a fire situation we haven’t experienced in 20 years,” Defense Minister Margarita Robles told Cadena SER radio.
“The fires have special characteristics as a result of climate change and this huge heat wave,” she said.
HEATWAVE AMONG LONGEST ON RECORD
The heatwave spanning 16 days is the third-longest on record and sent temperatures up to 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) over the weekend, according to state weather agency Aemet. It is expected to start easing on Monday evening or Tuesday.
Southern Europe is experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons in two decades, with Spain and Portugal among the hardest-hit countries.
So far this year, an estimated 344,400 hectares (851,000 acres) have burned in Spain, an area equivalent to the size of the island of Mallorca, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).
It’s the largest area on records that go back to 2006 and more than four times the 2006-2024 average.
A firefighter died when his truck crashed near the village of Espinoso de Compludo, raising the death toll to four from the recent wave of fires.
In Portugal, wildfires have burned about 216,200 hectares so far this year, according to EFFIS, more than four times the 2006-2024 average for this period, and two people have died.
