More than 343,000 hectares have burned in Spain since the start of the year, a constantly increasing figure which constitutes a record for the country, according to updated data from the European Forest Fire Information System (Effis), an indicator of the European Observatory Copernicus.
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The year 2022 was so far the worst in terms of surface devastated by the flames in Spain, with 306,000 hectares calcined.
AFP
Portugal has held the European record since the start of the statements in 2006, with 563,000 hectares burned in 2017, in fires that left 119 dead. The country is also prey to flames this summer, with 216,000 hectares devastated since the start of the year.
Since they broke out in early August in early August, the Mega-Enterees in Spain, which have concentrated in the northwest and west of the country, in Galicia, Castille-et-Léon and Estremadure, have already killed four.
Faced with the magnitude of the devastation caused by these claims, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced on Sunday “a national pact in the face of climate urgency”.
Experts explain that global warming caused by human activities means that extreme weather phenomena, such as droughts, heat waves and fires are more frequent, more intense and longer.
But there are also local factors such as rural exodus and uncontrolled vegetation which create conditions conducive to these gigantic fires.
