Wildfires spread in France and Spain as Europe swelters
A heat wave broiling Europe spilled northward Monday to Britain, where authorities warned of possible record temperatures, and fueled ferocious wildfires in France, which scrambled water-bombing planes and hundreds of firefighters to battle flames spreading through tinder-dry forests.
In Spain, two people were killed in blazes that the country’s prime minister linked to global warming, saying: “Climate change kills.”
In recent days, unusually high temperatures have gripped swaths of Europe, triggering wildfires from Portugal to the Balkan region. Some countries are also experiencing extended droughts. The fierce heat scorched even places such as Britain, where officials have issued the nation’s first-ever extreme heat warning. The country’s weather service forecast that the record high of 101.7 degrees set in 2019 could be shattered.
French forecasters also warned of possible record temperatures as swirling hot winds complicated firefighting efforts in the country’s southwest.
Authorities in southwestern France started evacuating more towns, moving another 11,500 people from areas at risk of getting caught in the path of the fires and their thick clouds of choking smoke. That will take the number who have been forced out of their homes in the Gironde region to nearly 28,000 since the wildfires began Tuesday.
The regional fire service chief, Marc Vermeulen, described the burning forests as “a powder keg” and said tree trunks were blowing apart as flames consumed them, sending burning embers into the air and spreading the blazes farther.
Britain’s first-ever extreme heat warning is in effect for large parts of England as authorities prepare for record temperatures in the triple digits.
“The fire is literally exploding,” he said. “We’re facing extreme and exceptional circumstances.”
Three additional water-dropping planes were joining six others already making repeated runs over the flames and dense clouds of smoke, the French Interior Ministry said Sunday night.
More than 200 reinforcements headed to join the 1,500-strong force of firefighters battling night and day to contain the blazes in the Gironde, where flames neared prized vineyards and the Arcachon maritime basin famed for its oysters and beaches.
Spain reported a second fatality in two days as it battled wildfires. The body of a 69-year-old sheep farmer was found Monday in the same hilly area where a 62-year-old firefighter died a day earlier when he was trapped by flames in northwestern Zamora province. More than 30 forest fires around Spain have forced the evacuation of thousands of people and blackened 85 square miles of forest and scrub.
The Save Our Sequoias Act would provide $350 million over 10 years to protect the iconic trees, thousands of which have burned in recent years.
Heat waves and drought tied to climate change have made wildfires harder to fight. Scientists say climate change will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.
“Climate change kills,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Monday during a visit to the Extremadura region, where firefighters tackled three major blazes. “It kills people, it kills our ecosystems and biodiversity.”
“I left my country under fire, literally under fire,” said Teresa Ribera, Spain’s minister for ecological transition, as she attended talks on climate change in Berlin.
She warned of “terrifying prospects still for the days to come” — after more than 10 days of temperatures over 104 degrees, which dipped only moderately at night.
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According to Spain’s Carlos III Institute, which records daily temperature-related fatalities, 237 deaths were attributed to high temperatures from July 10-14. That compared with 25 temperature-related deaths the previous week.
The heat wave in Spain is forecast to ease Tuesday, but the respite will be brief as temperatures rise again on Wednesday, especially in the bone-dry western Extremadura region.
The Balkans region has also seen sporadic wildfires and is expecting the worst of the heat later this week.
Early on Monday, authorities in Slovenia said firefighters managed to bring one fire under control. Croatia sent a water-dropping plane there to help battle the flames after struggling last week with its own wildfires along the Adriatic coast. A fire in Sibenik forced some people to evacuate their homes but was later extinguished.
In Portugal, much cooler weather Monday helped fire crews make progress against blazes. More than 600 firefighters were battling four major fires in northern Portugal.
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