Reuters / Lria (Portugal)
More than 20 wildfires burned in Portugal and western Spain yesterday, with meteorologists expecting temperatures to rise to 40 degrees Fahrenheit[40 ° C].
In France, about 800 firefighters, backed by six water jets, fought two fires in the southwest, displacing thousands of camps, according to Gironde’s administrator, Fabine Buccio.
In the southern Algarvé region of Portugal, a popular tourist destination, heavy smoke billowed from the area, and officials barred them from entering the Kunta Do Lago luxury resort and golf course.
“Fire is entering the city, a lot of dry vegetation, with a little flash, quickly becoming a second fire. We are concerned and this is what we are telling people, ”said Richard Marcus, a local civil protection officer.
In the northern central district of Lria, where temperatures have risen to 45C (113F), authorities have closed a major highway. There were flames and thick smoke on both sides of the road, and helicopters and planes were drowning.
Displaced residents poured water on the roofs of their homes.
Nearly 800 firefighters were fighting two fires in the area, with a total of 2,124 firefighters in Portugal, supported by 28 aircraft, fighting 24 forest fires.
The maximum temperature was 45C in Central Santrem and the districts of Leria, and all of Mainland Portugal was on red alert for extreme temperatures, according to the IPMAA. The country’s record temperature was 47.3C in 2003.
More than 2,700 hectares have been burned in France’s Gironde region, Buchio told BFM TV. The largest of the two fires was around the town of Landras, south of Bordeaux, where roads were closed and 500 residents were displaced.
The other is on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, near the famous “Dune du Pilat” – the tallest sand dune in Europe – in the area of Arcacon Bay, where more smoke is seen rising into the sky.
The blaze displaced 6,000 people from five camps. They were taken to a local exhibition center for shelter.
“Other camps woke us up at 4:30 p.m. We had to leave immediately and choose what to take with us quickly, ”Crystal, one of the displaced tourists, told BFM TV.
On the eve of Bastille Day, the state of Gironde bans all fireworks in towns and villages close to the forest until Monday.
The World Meteorological Organization warned on Tuesday that heat waves are spreading and intensifying in large parts of Europe.
Due to human-caused climate change, the number of wildfires is expected to increase by 30 percent over the next 28 years, according to a February 2022 United Nations report.
The Great Yangtze River Basin in China was engulfed in high temperatures yesterday. Firefighters withstand a wildfire near the Turkish tourist city of Datka; And consumers’ demand for energy has skyrocketed, as consumers overcrowded their air conditioners to escape the heat.
Firefighters evacuated a few villages in the western part of Spain, in the western part of Portugal, on Tuesday, displacing hundreds of villagers and continuing fighting in Salamanca, Castil and Lyon, on Tuesday.
The regions of Ekaterinburg, Andalusia and Galicia are on high alert for extreme temperatures, according to the Spanish Emetro Meteorological Service, which recorded temperatures of 47.4C for all of Spain in August 2021 and 40.7 degrees Celsius in the capital, Madrid. .
