The south of Europe did not know any respite on Thursday in the face of fires: Portugal, Greece, Italy and especially Spain, where a third death was recorded, continue to fight the flames in the heat wave. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez deplored “the death of a second volunteer in León” – a 36 -year -old man, who died Thursday morning in Castile -et -León (North West) – and stressed that “the threat remains extreme” to Spain, where Paris sent two Canadair.
Eleven fires are classified at level 2 (out of 4) and that of Zamora (in Castile-et-Léon), “where a large area has burned (…) worried” many, said the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, on public television. Some 10,700 people have been evacuated since the start of this fire episode, according to the Ministry of the Interior.
Hot waves multiplication
Premiere country of global warming in Europe, Spain is used to extreme temperatures, but it has been facing a multiplication and intensification of heat waves for a few years.
More than 157,000 hectares have gone up in smoke in this country since January, which has already been 2025 the worst year after 2022 and 2012, since the start of existence (in 2006) data from the European Forest Fire Fire System (Effis). In addition, August already arrives in second place of the worst months recorded for fires with 115,191 hectares burned. More than 70,000 hectares have burned in the past few days.
Galicia (north-west), the Valence (East) region and Estremadure (West) also concern the authorities, and around fifteen road axes are cut. “This night, the worst forecasts were made,” wrote on X Abel Bautista, a regional government official in Estrémadure, now placing the whole region on fire alert 2 and asking the population the “maximum prudence”. Thirty people suspected of being at the origin of fires, either by negligence or recklessness, or intentionally, were arrested.
In neighboring Portugal, about fifteen air aircraft are mobilized to fight four large forest fires in the north and the center of the country. In the center, the Arganil home alone requires more than 800 firefighters, while the Brazier of Transcoso, which has been raging since Saturday, continues to progress on Thursday. In some threatened villages, residents have joined the emergency services to repel the flames, according to the images broadcast live by local televisions.
Faced with this situation, the government, which expects a complicated Friday, “decided to extend the alert situation, which will remain in force with all the bans” until Sunday, said Interior Minister Maria Lucia Amaral, during a press conference. These measures notably prohibit access to forest areas, certain agricultural work and the use of fireworks.
On the other side of the Mediterranean, in Morocco, firefighters were fighting on a large forest fire on Thursday in a mountainous area around the tourist town of Chefchaouen, south of Tangier (northwest of the country).
Patras was hot
In Greece, where 20,000 hectares have been destroyed by fire since June, firefighters managed to circumscribe the fire that threatened Patras, the third city in the country and main port to Italy. There are “scattered” homes, even if the fire is “still active” in the suburbs is of the city with more than 200,000 inhabitants, according to firefighters.
Elsewhere in the country, 600 teams on the ground and nearly 30 water bomber planes struggled in particular on three other fronts, the Ionian island of Zante (west), the Aegean island of Chios (East) and near the western city of Preveza.
In the Balkans, the fires killed at least two people and led to the evacuation of thousands of inhabitants. In Albania, one of the hardest affected countries, firefighters tirelessly fought fires, while the neighboring Montenegro, the climatic conditions and the engaged air system made it possible to master the main forest fires. England also had to fight a fire in the Landes of the North Yorkshire, for about five square kilometers.
Northern Europe not spared
A hot heat continues to weigh on Italy, relatively spared from the fires this summer, and where 16 cities including Rome and Venice are placed on a red alert. In Florence, the thermometer should go up to 39 ° C, and in Milan, up to 38 ° C. A seventh day of a still overwhelming heat wave also hit three quarters of France.
Even northern Europe is affected by the heat wave: the weather exceptionally hot in July in Finland, Norway and Sweden led, according to the scientific network World Weather attribution (WWA), numerous fainting during outdoor events, saturated and overheated hospitals, caused forest fires, caused by multiple drives cities.