LAST UPDATE | 14 Aug 2022
HUNDREDS OF FIREFIGHTERS battled a blaze in northern Spain today that forced hundreds to evacuate and devastated swathes of land, officials said.
The fire was raging in the Aragon region where around 300 firefighters are trying to contain the blaze with the help of helicopters.
At least 1,500 people were evacuated from the rural region that includes a natural park in the Zaragoza province, the regional government said.
The Aragon emergency services estimate “thousands” of hectares have been destroyed by the fire.
The “rapid spread” of the flames, stoked by winds, is “critical”, the regional president, Javier Lamban, told media.
Spain has faced 388 wildfires since the start of the year, fuelled by scorching temperatures and drought conditions.
The blazes have destroyed 261,930 hectares in Spain this year, more than in any other country in Europe, according to data from the European Forest Fire Information System.
Scientists say human-induced climate change is making extreme weather events including heatwaves and droughts more frequent and more intense. They in turn increase the risk of fires, which emit climate-heating greenhouse gases.
Fires have blazed in other European countries including France, Greece and Portugal, making 2022 a record year for wildfire activity on the continent.
France
In France, overnight rain brought relief to parts of France battling wildfires, but a blaze in the south of the country has sent 1,000 people fleeing.
France has been buffeted this summer by a historic drought as well as a series of heatwaves and several forest fires.
A fire that had been raging since Monday in the southern Aveyron region appeared to be under control and dying out yesterday afternoon when it suddenly reignited in a “virulent” manner, gobbling up 500 more hectares (1,235 acres), the prefecture said.
At least 1,000 people were evacuated from the village of Mostuejols near the city of Millau and six nearby hamlets, it said.
Some 3,000 people had already been evacuated because of the fire, but were allowed back when it appeared under control. No casualties have been reported so far from the blaze, which has consumed a total of 1,260 hectares so far.
Meanwhile in the southwestern Gironde region around Bordeaux, a huge fire that had flared on Tuesday was under control after rain fell overnight, a senior official said.
The situation “considerably improved during the night,” Arnaud Mendousse, of Gironde fire and rescue, said.
European fires
EU members including Germany, Poland, Austria and Romania have sent reinforcement to France to help battle blazes and several water-bombing planes from the European Union fleet have also joined firefighting efforts.
While countries on the Mediterranean have normally been the main seats of fires in Europe, this year, other countries are also suffering heavily.
As well as France, fires this year have forced people to flee their homes in Austria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain.
Some 659,541 hectares (1.6 million acres) have been destroyed so far, data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) showed, setting a record at this point in the year since data collection began in 2006.
Europe has suffered a series of heatwaves, forest fires and historic drought that experts say are being driven by human-induced climate change.
They warn more frequent and longer heatwaves are on the way.
For nearly two weeks last month, thousands of firefighters struggled to put out Slovenia’s largest wildfire in its modern history.
But the worst-affected country has been Spain, where fire has destroyed 244,924 hectares, according to EFFIS data, followed by Romania (150,528 hectares) and Portugal (77,292 hectares).
The data comes after the EU’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) said on Friday that 2022 was a record year for wildfire activity in southwestern Europe and warned that a large proportion of western Europe was now in “extreme fire danger”.
“The situation in terms of drought and extremely high temperatures has affected all Europe this year and the overall situation in the region is worrying, while we are still in the middle of the fire season,” EFFIS coordinator Jesus San-Miguel said.
Since 2010 there had been a trend towards more fires in central and northern Europe, with fires in countries that “normally do not experience fires in their territory”, he added.
“The overall fire season in the EU is really driven mainly by countries in the Mediterranean region, except in years like this one, in which fires also happen in central and northern regions,” he added.
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