The Government of Spain has revealed that some of the Spanish firefighters have on Saturday struggled to contain wildfires that have ravaged some of the large tracts in the northwest area of the country as a third summer heat wave grips the country.
Firefighters had been seriously battling some of the six blazes in Galicia that have scorched nearly 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres).
Some 700 people have been evacuated from the area around Boiro, where a blaze broke out on Thursday, according to regional officials. But no casualties have been reported so far.
“The situation remains complicated. Helicopters are not enough to control all of the homes,” the mayor of neighbouring A Pobra do Caraminal, Xose Lois Pinero, wrote on Facebook.
Near the town of Verin, by the border with Portugal, authorities were managing to contain a fire that started Wednesday and is suspected to have been arson, Galicia government said.
Temperatures hit a 40.9 degrees Celsius (105.62 Fahrenheit) high on Thursday, according to the national weather agency. They have eased since but were expected to remain around 35C across much of the country on Saturday.
Many parts of Spain were on Wednesday placed on high alert as temperatures were expected to soar again and parts of western Europe were experiencing their second heatwave in as many weeks.
In some areas of Spain, which has been oppressively hot since the heatwave began over the weekend, temperatures were predicted to exceed 44 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit). It’s anticipated to go on until Sunday.
Heatwaves also affected France and Portugal this week, and both nations saw forest fires.
Spain’s state meteorological agency Aemet said some parts of the country were “suffocating”, especially the worst affected Andalusia in the south, Extremadura in the southwest and Galicia in the northwest.
Those areas were placed on high alert, meaning residents were asked to be cautious and keep a close eye on the weather forecast. Travel was not advised ‘unless strictly necessary’.
Apart from the Canary islands, all other regions of Spain were placed on lower alert levels because of the heat.