Wildfires raged across tinder-dry country in Portugal, Spain, France and Croatia on Thursday, burning homes and threatening livelihoods, as much of Europe baked in a heatwave that has pushed temperatures into the mid-40Cs in some parts.
Nations across southern Europe – experiencing the second heatwave in as many months – have been hit by a series of wildfires over the last few weeks.
In Portugal’s central Leiria district, tired firefighters battled to control blazes that have been fanned by strong winds. Footage from the area on Wednesday showed smoke darkening the sky and billowing across a highway, while flames licked around the roofs of houses in one small village.
“Yesterday was a very tough day,” Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said as he attended a briefing with the national meteorological institute IPMA.
“It is absolutely crucial we avoid new events because it leads to the exhaustion of firefighters and all others … who are doing their best to control the situation.”
The most concerning blaze was near the town of Pombal, where on Thursday aircraft and helicopters dropped water on flames that were tearing down a hillside lined with highly flammable pine and eucalyptus trees.
“When it gets to the eucalyptus it’s like an explosion,” Antonio, an elderly resident of the nearby village of Gesteira, said as he anxiously watched the approaching flames.
Across the border in western Spain, a fire that started in the Extremadura region on Tuesday swept into Salamanca province in the region of Castile and Leon, forcing the evacuation of 49 children from a summer camp on Thursday.
Regional authorities said more than 4,000 hectares (9,900 acres) of land had been burned.
Spain’s meteorological agency AEMET expected the heatwave to reach its peak later on Thursday, with temperatures likely to exceed 44 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit) in large parts of southern Spain.
Thousands evacuated
On Croatia’s Adriatic Coast, firefighting planes swooped low to dump water over burning forests, and troops were called in to help firefighters battling to contain three major wildfires around Zadar and Sibenek.
Arndt Dreste, 55, had moved to the village of Raslina, near Sibenik, this year, after selling his property in Germany. His house was severely damaged by the fire.
“I bought this house in January … I (am) cut off from Germany and this is my life here … it was here,” Dreste told Reuters, showing the charred walls of his home.
In southwestern France, more than 1,000 firefighters, supported by nine water-bombing planes, were battling two wildfires that started on Tuesday. The fires have burnt 5,300 hectares, a figure that has doubled over the past 24 hours.
“The situation on the ground is unfavorable, there is the scorching heat and the wind,” Fabienne Buccio, prefect of the Gironde department, told local media, adding the fires were still not under control. “And, as night is about to fall, we will not be able to use our aerial means.”