Spain Struggles To Overcome 14 Forest Fires That Scorch London's Wide Area

Forest fires in Spain/PHOTO via X @Defensagob

JAKARTA - Spain struggled against 14 major fires that killed seven people and scorched an area of London.

The 12-day heat wave and the south wind left firefighters facing a challenging day in one of the worst summers to fire in 20 years.

"In the western region of the country, the situation is very worrying," said Virginia Barcones, Director General of Spanish Emergency Services at RTVE.

In Galicia, a larger blaze forced the closure of highways and rail services to the area.

Fires in Ourense Province in Galicia spread to nearby Zamora Province.

Although many people were evacuated, some remained to protect their homes.

"In the village, some people have tractors and they have made fire dividers in flat areas with fewer hills," Loli Baz, a 52-year-old teacher in Villanueva de la Sierra Village, told Reuters.

"We are waiting for the fire to subside to try to stop it, so it doesn't get to the houses in the village," he continued.

Firefighters are fighting to extinguish forest fires across southern Europe, with fires triggered by a prolonged heat wave that hit the region.

The Spanish Meteorological Agency, AEMET, warned of the risk of extreme fires in the country's northern and western regions, as temperatures are expected to reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) on the north coast.

"Today will be a very difficult day, with the risk of a new extreme fire," Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on X.

Fires near Molezuelas de la Carballeda reported in the Castile and Leon regions, one of the biggest fires in Spanish history, have not expanded since Thursday, said Angel Sanchez, head of the region's forest fire service.

"We will continue to try to stabilize it," he said.

This condition caused the fire to spread at a speed that made firefighters quickly lose control.

The Molezuelas fire at one stage spreads at a speed of 4,000 hectares (15.4 square miles) per hour.

Meanwhile, a fire near Badajoz in the Extreme region scorched 2,500 hectares in the hours before it was finally controlled.