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Heat wave fuels megafires
Spain’s state meteorological agency Aemet warned of another “long” heatwave starting Wednesday that “last, at least, until Sunday,” adding that “the risk of fire rising to extreme levels, hindering firefighting efforts.”
“At least 1 dead, more than 300,000 evacuated amid wildfires in Spain, France France is expected to get its fourth heatwave this week”
In Spain, a fire in the hilly terrain of Ávila, west of Madrid, became the country’s largest on record, burning 50,000 hectares (123,000 acres), while authorities battled two separate fires north-west of Madrid that took the total area of scorched land near the capital to 70,000 hectares.
In France, the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region’s prefect Sophie Brocas warned that the wildfire in Gironde was “unlike any we have ever seen in France” because it “follows its own logic rather than any known pattern.”
As the blaze intensified, firefighters were forced to “constantly adapt” to conditions as the fire’s constantly evolving nature changed the fight on the ground.
EU officials said wildfires could still be burning until early November, threatening what they described as a record-breaking year for the area of land burned.
Evacuations and air risks
In France, the government said the spread of a giant fire in the southwestern Gironde region may have slowed, but rising temperatures later this week could still complicate efforts to battle blazes that have scorched an area four times the size of Paris.
The EU on Monday called the displacement “one of the biggest evacuation operations in Europe,” with more than 250,000 people evacuated in France and 220,000 of them in Gironde.
In Spain, the EU’s crisis management chief Hadja Lahbib said the bloc sent seven planes and four helicopters from Czechia, Croatia, Germany, Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden and Turkey to France, and another six planes from Greece, Italy and Turkey to Spain, adding, “No country should ever have to face a disaster of this scale alone.”
CNN reported that wildfires in France are so intense they created “fire clouds,” a phenomenon authorities said has never been seen there before, and that dangerous air pollutants in Bordeaux spiked well above safe levels.
CNN also quoted atmospheric scientist Dr Richard Pope saying “the widespread smoke observed from space has degraded air quality and increased health risks for millions.”
What’s at stake next
EU officials warned that wildfires could still be burning until early November, threatening what they said would be a record-breaking year for the area of land burned.
“Along France's southern Atlantic coast, more than 2,500 firefighters are battling the”
The Guardian reported that Spain’s interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said Monday and Tuesday were “absolutely crucial days” before temperatures rise again from Wednesday onwards, with Aemet warning of “a significant of even extraordinary level of danger” for people involved in outdoor activities and vulnerable groups.
In France, the government said the fire had stopped growing but was still blazing, and a new heatwave this week could make it harder to fight, while authorities carried out one of the biggest evacuations in modern French history.
The Guardian described how “fire clouds” or pyrocumulonimbus clouds are created by extreme wildfires and can exacerbate already extremely dangerous conditions, including by generating lightning that can spark fresh blazes.
With the EU ramping up aerial support, EU commissioner Hadja Lahbib said, “We currently have nine aerial assets deployed on site, and tomorrow we will have 11,” as provisional data showed more than 170,000 hectares of forest land affected in Spain since the beginning of the year.
