Thousands of firefighters, supported by the military and water-bombing aircraft, battled dozens of wildfires across Spain and Portugal on Monday as the death toll rose to six since the blazes began.
The Iberian Peninsula has suffered heavily from wildfires, fuelled by heatwaves and drought linked to climate change that have struck southern Europe.
According to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), more than 343,000 hectares (848,000 acres) of land — almost half a million football pitches — have already been destroyed in Spain this year, setting a new national record. The previous high of 306,000 hectares was recorded three years ago.
Two firefighters — one in each country — died in road accidents on Sunday, raising the toll to two in Portugal and four in Spain.
Spain’s Civil Protection and Emergencies chief, Virginia Barcones, told broadcaster TVE that 23 “active fires” posed a serious and immediate threat to communities.
Now in their second week, the worst fires have struck the northwest regions of Galicia, Castile and Leon, and Extremadura. In Ourense province, charred forests, blackened soil and destroyed homes testified to the scale of the destruction, while thick smoke forced residents to wear facemasks.
Locals joined firefighters in the effort, dousing homes with hoses and buckets of water. One man in O Barco de Valdeorras described the inferno as “like a bomb”.
“It came from below like a hurricane,” he said. “The good thing was that in two minutes it headed up and didn’t stay long. If not, our house would have been burnt to the ground.”
Barcones expressed hope that cooler weather would ease the crisis, with Spain’s meteorological agency reporting that the heatwave — which saw temperatures reach 45°C in some areas — was ending.
Spain has received firefighting aircraft from France, Italy, Slovakia and the Netherlands, while Portugal has been supported by Sweden and Morocco. Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles told TVE the situation was “very difficult, very complicated”, with smoke and flames so intense they hampered air operations.
Officials in Castile and Leon confirmed that a firefighter died late Sunday when his water truck overturned on a steep forest road. Two volunteer firefighters in the same region also lost their lives, while a Romanian riding school worker near Madrid died attempting to save horses.
In Portugal, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said a firefighter died in a traffic accident that also seriously injured two colleagues. On Friday, a former mayor of Guarda perished while trying to tackle a blaze.
On Monday, around 2,000 firefighters were deployed across northern and central Portugal, with nearly half stationed in Arbanil. The country has lost 216,000 hectares of land to wildfires so far this year.