Heat wave and wildfires in Spain

So far, about 25,000 hectares of forest and farmland have burned in northwestern Spain. In addition, hundreds of residents in eleven villages were forced from their homes. But there have been no reports of deaths or injuries so far.

The most affected area is the town of Zamora on the border with Portugal in western Spain.

“scary”

In the town of Villadiserfus, about 400 residents were evacuated.

– Mayor Lorenzo Jimenez told El Pais that the fire is completely out of control and the situation is frightening.

At the same time, he is cautiously optimistic that the fires have barely affected downtown itself.

– But we lost all our wealth in the mountains, which is a shame, says Lorenzo Jimenez.

Work to control fires is also made more difficult by the dry, hot weather and strong winds, which facilitate the spread of wildfires.

standard temperature

Over the weekend, the record-breaking heat wave continued in Spain with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees. Above all, the heat affected the northeastern parts of the country and the highest temperature was recorded on Saturday in Zaragoza of 42 degrees.

Forest fires have also devastated the northeastern part of Spain this week. In Catalonia, hundreds of firefighters fought to put out a number of fires near the towns of Corbera d’Ebre, Castellar de la Ribera and Artesa de Segre.