Southern Europe suffers from uncontrollable fires

The horrific images follow and resemble each other: Europe is burning in all four corners. In the south of the continent, huge pillars of fire caressed the forests, threatening villages and their inhabitants. Several hundred fires are still active in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece, due to scorching temperatures and strong winds.

A recent study published by the journal temper nature defines Europe as “hot point” Heat wave, where heat waves have increased in frequency and intensity more rapidly than in other parts of the world over the past four decades. The report says that extreme temperatures are expected to increase due to global warming in the future.

Portugal destroyed more than 12,000 hectares

On social media, a video clip worthy of a sci-fi movie shows the dangerous crossing of a Portuguese journalist on the country’s main highway, amid a tunnel of flames several meters high. The man escaped safely from the fire, but two other people were unlucky, according to the Civil Protection report, which counted about sixty injured due to the fires. A water bomber pilot died on Friday after his plane crashed in the Foz Cua region (northeast), while battling fires that have already destroyed 12,000-15,000 hectares of forest and trees in Portugal since the onset of the heat. plank.

On Sunday, authorities still identified dozens of fires going on, with concern in Bustillo (Cháves) and Baiao, in the Porto region. However, the country expects relative calm. Authorities will end the state of emergency on Sunday evening due to an expected drop in temperatures and a slight increase in air humidity, but they remain on alert.

It reaches 44 degrees Celsius in Spain

The situation is even more alarming in Spain, where it has also fallen into an unprecedented heat wave: up to 44 degrees Celsius in some areas. In Madrid, a health worker was found dead on the sidewalk, a heatstroke victim. His body temperature reached 41.5 degrees Celsius.

About two dozen wildfires are still out of control, from the south to the far northwest of the country, even though 70% of the rescue system is mobilized. The declared fires in the regions of Castile, Leon, Andalusia, Extremadura and Galicia, where more than 14,000 hectares have already burned, are the fires of greatest concern. One of the fires, announced on Saturday evening, could endanger nature’s jewel: the Garganta de los Infiernos Nature Reserve. In the editorial of the daily newspaper El País It indicates that more than 70,000 hectares had already burned in Spain by 3 July, roughly the same area as in the whole of 2021. He warns of a phenomenon that may get out of control: We are entering a new scenario where extreme situations will be repeated more and more. A new type of wildfire is very difficult to extinguish once the fire reaches a certain size: the fire itself creates additional conditions for drought and extreme heat that prevent its extinction.”

Italy is not immune to fire either. In Bibione, one of the country’s most popular coastal destinations, a fire that broke out on Friday in a pine forest near the beach has caused tourists to panicked to throw themselves into the sea to escape the blazes. In Greece, firefighters have already fought more than 50 fires, including in Crete, the Saronicos region and southeast of Athens, where residents were urged to evacuate on Friday.