Flames are tearing through Europe’s parched landscapes once again, forcing exhausted crews back onto the front lines as a fresh surge of heat grips France, Spain and Portugal.
Across the three countries, the newest wave of wildfires has already destroyed more than 42,000 acres of land — about twice the size of Manhattan — with temperatures in some areas forecast to reach 40C today.
The escalation comes after one of Europe’s harshest heatwaves in June, when authorities recorded thousands of excess deaths. With more extreme weather looming, France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez has warned that the annual summer wildfire season appears to have arrived a month early.
In Spain, a blaze near the northeastern Costa Brava coastline scorched more than 5,400 acres in just two days. Firefighters said today’s work would be “complicated,” citing rising temperatures and multiple “smoking hotspots” still flaring inside the fire’s perimeter.
Catalunya regional government president Salvador Illa said a man had been detained in connection with the fire, which has struck hard at the Gavarres protected natural area between Barcelona and the French border.
In France, nearly 600 firefighters have been deployed to rein in a wildfire that has burned more than 2,400 acres on a mountainside at Trevillach, about 36km east of Perpignan.
A forest fire in Cruilles-Sant Sadurni de l’Heura in Spain
More trouble ahead
Authorities have shut roads in the area and instructed mayors to open emergency shelters for residents who may have to leave their homes at short notice.
Elsewhere in France, about 300 firefighters fought another forest fire in the rugged terrain of the southeastern Drome department.
In Portugal, emergency services reported they had brought “80%” of a wildfire under control after it devastated roughly 13,000 hectares of forest and scrubland in the country’s north.
Jose Costa, a senior civil protection officer, told AFP the fire had advanced 35km since igniting on Thursday, and said 1,200 firefighters had taken part in the effort to contain it.
Reinforcements and water-carrying aircraft arrived from Spain and Italy after Portugal appealed for international assistance. The inferno has left nine people with burn injuries.
As temperatures climbed again today, several regions across Portugal, Spain and southern France intensified heat alerts. Tomorrow, forecasters said, the latest heatwave was expected to push north, and could persist until next weekend.
Western Europe has already endured heatwaves in May and June that would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change, according to the World Weather Attribution group of scientists.
After a two-week spike in June temperatures, France reported more than 2,000 excess deaths in just one week, while Spain and Belgium each recorded more than 1,000.
Officials in multiple countries are bracing for a punishing summer ahead.
“Climate change is here, we are living the consequences and it is only the start of July,” said French fire service Colonel Eric Belgioino, urging residents near the Pyrenees inferno to take precautions to avoid igniting new fires.
“The season is going to be long for the soldiers fighting fires. You have to help us,” he said.
