Holiday regions in southern Europe: fight against heat and forest fires

Drought, heat and forest fires continue to plague several holiday regions in southern Europe: Western France has the highest heat warning level, a firefighter died in Spain, and Greece also registered several forest fires.

In the midst of the extreme heat wave with numerous forest fires in southern Europe, Spain a firefighter died during an operation. The authorities said at night that he had fought a forest fire near Losacio in the north-west of the country. About 30 forest fires were still active in Spain on Sunday evening. The fires have leveled tens of thousands of hectares in the past few days, as reported by the state television broadcaster RTVE, citing the various regional authorities.

In Portugal around 1000 emergency services fought against 16 active forest fires on Sunday evening. According to the nature conservation authority ICNF, the flames in Portugal destroyed around 30,000 hectares of forest within a week.

In both countries on the Iberian peninsula, meanwhile, there is reason for hope in anticipation of falling temperatures. “In the coming days, a drop in temperature of between two and eight degrees is expected,” said Portuguese Interior Minister José Luis Carneiro. In Spain, the heat wave that has swept through practically the entire country for nine days will end between Monday and Tuesday, the national weather service Aemet said.

France: 16,000 holidaymakers had to leave accommodation

There is no all-clear in France: There, the red warning level for heat waves applies to 15 of 101 departments. The Atlantic coast is particularly affected, including Brittany for the first time. It could be one of the hottest days in the country’s history. Maximum temperatures of between 38 and 40 degrees are expected in half of France. The forest fires that have been raging for days have still not been extinguished. South of Bordeaux at the Bassin d’Arcachon, 15,000 hectares have already burned down, mostly pine forests. In Teste-de-Buch, the fire reached the Atlantic beach. Immense plumes of smoke could be seen south of the Dune du Pilat, a popular tourist destination.

Around 16,200 holidaymakers have had to leave campsites and accommodation since Tuesday. There are now 1,700 firefighters in the region. The Ministry of the Interior announced on Sunday evening that it would increase the number of fire-fighting aircraft from six to nine.

Also forest fires in Crete

The fire is under control, but not yet extinguished: on the holiday island Crete Firefighters are fighting the flames and embers of a forest fire that broke out on Friday. 120 firefighters were deployed with 35 fire engines, as the daily newspaper “Kathimerini” reported. There were also fires elsewhere in Greece – the fire brigade registered 108 fires within 24 hours from Sunday to Monday.

The risk of forest fires is rated as “very high” locally, including on the islands of Crete, Euboea, Samos and Lesbos, but also in the north-east of the Peloponnese peninsula and around the capital Athens.

Italy In addition to forest fires that flare up again and again, the lack of rain is also a problem. The farmers’ association Coldiretti warned on Sunday of crop losses of up to 70 percent in some areas. Fruit and vegetables are burning in the fields, it said in a statement. Varieties from peppers to melons, apricots, tomatoes and eggplants are affected. In Sicily and Sardinia, the authorities again raised the forest fire warning levels in some parts of the islands. In Sicily, the highest level three already applies locally.

In Great Britain the 40-degree mark could be exceeded for the first time at the beginning of this week. Authorities issued a red heat alert for the first time in history. The previous maximum temperature in the country was 38.7 degrees in 2019.