Fires and extreme temperatures in western Europe – Ashes hundreds of thousands of acres

Many countries in western Europe are still battling devastating forest fires today, a consequence of the unprecedented heatwave they have been experiencing for days and which is threatening to “smash” many maximum temperature records early this week.

This heat wave is the second to sweep western Europe in less than a month. The proliferation of these phenomena is considered a direct consequence of global warming, as the emissions of gases that cause the greenhouse effect increase their intensity, duration and frequency.

In south-west France firefighters remain on alert, particularly in the Gironde, where around 110,000 acres of forest since last Tuesday. Today the temperature is expected to exceed 40 degrees Celsius in places. The meteorological service Météo-France put 15 regions in western France on “red alert”. “The heat wave is spreading across the country,” the agency warned.

Tomorrow is expected to be “the warmest day for the west of the country”, forecasters predict, according to which the mercury will show 40 degrees in many areas of Brittany, Lower Normandy, Aquitaine and elsewhere.

For now, in the tourist area of ​​Arcachon, on the Atlantic Ocean, the fires appear to be under control, although several flare-ups occurred on the night of Saturday into Sunday and threatened camps on the Dunes of Pila, which had to be evacuated, the district said of Gironde.

In total, more than 14,000 residents and holidaymakers have been forced to pack up and leave the area since last Tuesday.

Up to 42° in Spain

In Spain, about 20 fires are raging out of control in various parts of the country, from the south to Galicia in the northwest. Today the authorities allowed 300 residents in the Malaga area (out of the 3,000 who had been forced to leave for precautionary reasons) to return to their homes.

The Spanish meteorological service predicted for today “significantly high” temperatures in most of the country and in the Balearic Islands, in the Mediterranean. In Logrono, in the north, the thermometer is expected to show up to 42 degrees, while in Madrid and Seville the heat “hits red”, with 40 degrees.

In neighboring Portugal the situation is much better on the fire front and, for the first time since July 8, the temperature was not expected to exceed 40 degrees. Only one major fire remains, near the community of Chávez in the north, but the civil protection service considers that it too is “essentially 90% contained”. However, the authorities are not complacent, since even today the risk of fire remains “very high” or “high”, especially in central and northern Portugal.

According to the latest tally, the wildfires that have ravaged the country over the past week have left behind two dead60 injured and 120-150,000 acres of burnt forest.

Red alert in UK

Further north, in Britain, the Met Office issued its first “red alert” warning that the extreme heat expected in the country is considered “dangerous to life”. In the south of England the mercury could exceed 40 degrees on Monday or Tuesday, the Met Office said.

In the Netherlands, the Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) today announced a “National Heat Plan” and issued an alert from tomorrow for the whole country, forecasting temperatures to reach 35 degrees on Monday and up to 38 degrees in places , on Tuesday. Due to the heat, the first day of the four-day walk that takes place every year, with the participation of thousands of people from all over the world, in the city of Nijmegen was cancelled. According to the organizers, the conditions expected to prevail in the coming days will be worse than those of 2006, when two of the participants died due to the heat.

The Netherlands is suffering from a drought and authorities have imposed restrictions on water use in many areas, including in Limburg, a province that was heavily damaged by floods a year ago.

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