While the European heat wave persists, some countries are pursuing a battle for forest fires – National
Firefighters in Spain, Portugal and Greece continued to fight forest fires on Friday during a public holiday in the three countries while hot and persistent dry conditions challenged the efforts to contain the flames.
Spain was fighting 14 major fires, according to Virginia Barcones, director general of emergency services. Temperatures were expected to climb over the weekend.
“Today will be a very difficult day again, with an extreme risk of new fires,” wrote Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on X. wrote.
The National Weather Agency Aemet warned against the risk of extreme fire in most of the country, including where the largest flames were burning in the north and west. A heat wave that has resulted in temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) to several days this month should last until Monday.
Fires in the Galicia region have forced the closure of several highways. The high -speed rail line connecting it to the Spanish capital, Madrid, has remained suspended.
Fires in Spain this year burned 158,000 hectares or 610 square miles, depending on the European Forest Forest Information System. It is an area about as large as Metropolitan London.
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In Spain and Portugal, it was the feast of the hypothesis, a great Catholic celebration generally marked by family gatherings and religious processions.
In Portugal, nearly 4,000 firefighters fought against fires on Friday. Seven major fires were active. The authorities extended the alert until Sunday, in the midst of high temperatures which should last throughout the weekend.
A forest fire in Greece burned out of control for a fourth day on the island of Chios, causing several other night evacuations.
Two breathtaking planes and two helicopters operated in the north of the Eastern Aegean Island, where local authorities declared that a lull in strong winds helped the firefighters early on Friday.
Following a series of major fires in the west of Greece earlier this week, the fire service was on alert on Friday outside Athens and neighboring areas in the southern country where unfavorable weather conditions have raised the risk of fire.
Friday, the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians in the world expressed his solidarity on Friday with the victims of forest fires in southern Europe during the prayers for the dormitory of the Virgin Mary, an important religious holiday for Orthodox Christians.
–The writer AP Derek Gatopoulos contributed from Athens.
& Copy 2025 the Canadian press
