{"id":59320,"date":"2026-07-22T21:42:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T21:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/59320\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T21:42:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T21:42:16","slug":"spain-and-france-continue-to-battle-wildfires-as-intense-heat-grips-southern-europe-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/59320\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain and France continue to battle wildfires as intense heat grips southern Europe \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Firefighters battling \u200cwildfires<\/a> in Spain<\/a> and France<\/a> on Wednesday said the risk of more blazes over the coming days was very high, even as a major fire raging in Spain\u2019s central Guadalajara province receded, allowing some residents to return home.<\/p>\n

Wildfires have burned more land in Europe already \u200bthis year than the annual average in the past two decades, data shows as the world\u2019s fastest-warming continent has endured three stifling, virtually back-to-back heatwaves so far this year.<\/p>\n

In France, where two firefighters died on Tuesday as their truck was engulfed in flames in the southwest region of Gironde, authorities urged people to avoid using barbecues in areas hit by heatwaves, stressing that nine out of 10 wildfires start, accidentally or not, as a result of human activity. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in the western Balkans, the danger has shifted from heatwaves to \u200bhailstorms, with several people injured in North Macedonia<\/a> and eastern Kosovo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Scientists say human-driven climate change<\/a> is increasing the intensity of heatwaves, droughts and wildfires, while also creating conditions for sudden, destructive storms. <\/p>\n

The Reuters Climate Monitor, an interactive tool providing real-time data, showed the average high temperature \u2060across western Europe is forecast to be 26.6 degrees, which is 3 degrees above the normal high for July 22nd in the period from 1961 to 1990.<\/p>\n

\"AA forest burned by wildfires near the town of Albendiego, in Spain’s Guadalajara province, on Wednesday. Photograph: Pierre-Philippe Marcou\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s worst wildfire \u200cso \u200cfar \u200bthis year has burned an estimated 32,000 hectares (79,000 acres) in the Guadalajara region. It started to stabilise on Tuesday after forcing evacuations in 34 municipalities and confinement orders in 14 others.<\/p>\n

Castilla-La Mancha\u2019s INFOCAM fire service said residents of five villages had been authorised to return, although other restrictions remained in place.<\/p>\n

Visiting the region on Wednesday, prime \u2060minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez<\/a> said Spain had already suffered 22 major wildfires this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have already reached \u200b100,000 hectares before reaching the most critical period of the year in the fight against wildfires,\u201d he said. \u201cTo \u200bput that into perspective, that is the annual average that Spain experienced over the past decade,\u201d he said, adding that more must be done to prevent fires.<\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s weather agency AEMET said the danger of wildfires remained \u201cvery high or \u200cextreme\u201d across most of mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands and was expected \u200bto increase further in the coming days.<\/p>\n

It urged people to \u201cexercise extreme caution\u201d as the ongoing heatwave combined with dry thunderstorms and Saharan dust.<\/p>\n

While temperatures will ease slightly in some areas on Thursday, a dry \u2060westerly wind is forecast to drive a fresh surge of heat in Mediterranean regions, \u2060where highs of 42 to 44 degrees could be recorded \u200bin some areas.<\/p>\n

A marked cool-down is expected from Friday. However, the respite may be brief. Temperatures are forecast to rise again from Sunday, and intense heat could return across much of Spain early next week.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe garden and area surrounding a house that was burned in a wildfire in Ponteves, southeastern France, on Wednesday. Photograph: Frederic Dides\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

In France, less severe temperatures and lighter winds aided efforts to fight a wildfire that has burned 2,500 hectares (6,177 acres) in the southeastern Var area, damaged dozens of homes and forced 400 people to flee their homes, local authorities said.<\/p>\n

But the risk of more wildfires remains very high in western and southwestern France for the rest of the week, as well as in the southeast at least until Thursday, official weather forecaster Meteo France said.<\/p>\n

In the Var, helicopters have been dropping water on the wildfire, which is still active, since early morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation has been very difficult,\u201d commander William Vogl, a spokesperson for the Var firefighters, said on RMC radio. The fire was not yet contained but winds should be \u201cmore favourable\u201d on Wednesday, he said.<\/p>\n

Prefect Simon Babre said barbecues were \u200cbanned, and he also asked municipalities to cancel any \u2060plans for traditional summer fireworks.<\/p>\n

Officials said another fire was raging in the Hautes-Alpes, also in southeastern France.<\/p>\n

In Greece, with temperatures forecast to top 41 degrees, authorities have banned outdoor work at peak midday sun. In Cyprus, which is also used to high summer temperatures, working outdoors was banned during afternoon hours on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

In Skopje, capital of North Macedonia, \u200c11 people were admitted to hospital, three of them with serious injuries, after a storm on Tuesday night felled trees, damaged roofs and caused power outages across the Balkan country, local media reported.<\/p>\n

Roads were blocked and some towns left without electricity and water.<\/p>\n

In Kosovo, \u200bthe Hydrometeorological Institute said more storms were expected on Wednesday and warned of possible lightning strikes, damage to the electricity network, power outages, flooding and \u200bproperty damage.<\/p>\n

Local media showed roofs being blown away, torrential rain and residents covering their cars with blankets on Tuesday to protect them from hail. \u2013 Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Firefighters battling \u200cwildfires in Spain and France on Wednesday said the risk of more blazes over the coming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1512,6760,556,797,24131,3069,205,17,24130],"class_list":["post-59320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-climate-change","tag-cyprus","tag-france","tag-greece","tag-kosovo","tag-north-macedonia","tag-pedro-sanchez","tag-spain","tag-weather-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}