Hundreds of firefighters battled forest infernos in France, Spain and Portugal on Sunday as temperatures rose again in heatwave-scarred Europe. The latest wildfires have already devastated more than 17,000 hectares of land — twice the size of Manhattan — across the three countries where temperatures in some places were predicted to touch 40°C on Sunday.
Excess Deaths and Early Wildfire Season
Authorities registered thousands of excess deaths during one of Europe's worst heatwaves in June, and with more extreme weather on the way, France's Interior Minister Laurent Nunez has already expressed concern that the annual summer wildfire season had started a month early.
Spain: Costa Brava Fire Rages
A fire near Spain's northeastern Costa Brava coast burned more than 2,200 hectares in two days and firefighters said their operation on Sunday would be "complicated" by rising temperatures and the many "smoking hotspots" within the fire's perimeter. Firefighters "worked tirelessly throughout the night to consolidate the perimeter of the La Bisbal d'Empordà forest fire, which is now stabilized," said a Catalunya fire service statement. Catalunya regional government president Salvador Illa said that a man had been detained in connection with the fire which has badly hit the Gavarres protected natural area between Barcelona and the French border.
France: Massive Blazes in Trevillach and Drome
Nearly 600 French firefighters have been mobilized to contain a wildfire that has burned more than 1,000 hectares on a mountainside at Trevillach, about 36 kilometers east of Perpignan. Roads in the region have been closed and the authorities have ordered mayors to open emergency shelters for people who could be forced to flee their homes. Another 300 French firefighters battled another forest fire in a mountainous district of the southeastern Drome department.
Portugal: 80 Percent Contained
In Portugal, emergency services said they had controlled "80 percent" of a wildfire that has devastated some 13,000 hectares of forest and scrub land in the north of the country.
