Wildfires are burning across Europe as temperatures cross 40°C this week
Southwest Europe is enduring one of its worst week of summer heatwave that has killed more than 1,100 people in Spain and Portugal, triggered devastating forest fires that have scorched thousands of hectares of forest in France and Spain and forcing evacuation of thousands of people.
Firefighters in France, Portugal, Spain and Greece battled forest blazes that have ravaged thousands of hectares of land and killed several people.
Raging fires in Portugal
Portugal’s Health Ministry announced late Saturday that there had been 659 heat-related deaths over the past week, primarily among the elderly, according to Reuters. A pilot also died when his waterbomber aircraft crashed while fighting a wildfire raging in the northern Portuguese municipality of Torre de Moncorvo, officials said
The temperature of 116.6 F (47 C) recorded in Pinhão, Portugal, on Thursday, July 14, broke the record for the highest temperature ever recorded in the country in July, according to Portugal’s meteorological agency.
Wildfire in Spain
Hundreds have also died in neighboring Spain where 510 heat-related deaths in the country from July 10 to July 16, according to Carlos III Institute. More than 70,000 hectares have been destroyed in Spain because of fires this year, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said. “Seventy-thousand hectares, to give you an idea, is almost double the last decade’s average,” he said.
Passengers on a train in Spain experience moments of panic as their train traveled past raging wildfire in the north-western province of Zamora. The train was traveling between Madrid and Ferrol in the Galicia region, but the Zamora wildfire forced it to a halt, according to the passenger who shot the video, Francisco Seoane Pérez.
France swelter in heat wave
The heat wave has now moved north into France and the UK, where the temperatures are predicted to break all-time national high-temperature records.
French capital Paris is expected to reach 39 degrees Celsius (102.2 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday. Nearly 1,700 firefighters from across France, supported by significant air resources, are battling two wildfires that have burned 4,700 hectares of forest in the Gironde, according to local officials.
UK records hottest day on record
The UK is experiencing its hottest ever day on record, according to provisional Met Office data. Charlwood, in Surrey, hit 39.1C on Tuesday (July 19). “If confirmed this will be the highest temperature ever recorded in the UK” the UK Met Office said, adding: “Temperatures are likely to rise further through today.” UK Met Office has issued a red extreme heat warning covering much of central, northern, and south-east England.
