A firefighter has been killed battling wildfires that have been ravaging Portugal while a firefighter in Spain died when his truck crashed on a forest path.
The death of the firefighter in Portugal brings the death toll from the wildfires to two, authorites said.
Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said the firefighter died yesterday in a "tragic" road accident after 10 days fighting fires that have hit the north and centre of the country since late July.
Wildfires have burnt 155,000 hectares in Portugal so far this year, according to the ICNF forestry protection institute - three times the average for the period between 2006 to 2024. About half of that area burned in the past three days.
In Spain, the firefighter died when his truck crashed on a forest path near the village of Espinoso de Compludo. Four firefighters have died in the country so far.
The interior ministry says 27 people have been arrested and 92 are under investigation for suspected arson since June.
Scorching heat hampered efforts to contain 20 major wildfires across Spain yesterday, prompting the government to deploy an additional 500 troops from the military emergency unit to support firefighting operations.
In the northwestern region of Galicia, several fires converged to form a large blaze, forcing the closure of highways and rail services to the region.
"There are still some challenging days ahead and, unfortunately, the weather is not on our side," Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told a news conference in Ourense, one of the most affected areas, yesterday.
He announced an increase in military reinforcements, bringing the total number of troops deployed across Spain to 1,900.
Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles said things are not likely to improve until the heatwave that has seen temperatures hit 45C starts easing this evening or tomorrow.
The heatwave is the third hottest since 1975, when the national weather agency started tracking them. Most of the country is subject to wildfire warnings.
Southern Europe is experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons in two decades, with Spain among the hardest-hit countries.
Hot and dry summers have been common in the Mediterranean region. But wildfires fanned by intense heat and winds, the result of a fast-changing climate, scientists say, have become more destructive and tougher to control.
In Turkey, more than 250 people were evacuated over the weekend as a wildfire raged on the Gallipoli peninsula flanking the Dardanelles Strait.
Several countries in Europe and the Balkans have been hit by wildfires in the last week, including France, Greece and Albania.
Accreditation: AFP/Reuters
