Wildfires Ravage Spain, Portugal, and Greece Amid Heatwave

Madrid, Aug 15 (AP) Firefighters across Spain, Portugal, and Greece valiantly continued their battle against wildfires on Friday despite it being a public holiday in all three nations. The persistent hot and dry conditions have complicated efforts to control the blazes.

In Spain, 14 major wildfires were raging. The weather forecast indicated that temperatures would rise over the weekend, intensifying concerns.

“Today will once again be a very tough day, with an extreme risk of new fires,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on X.

The national weather service, AEMET, issued warnings of an extreme fire risk across most of the country. This includes areas in the north and west, where the largest fires are burning. A heatwave, which has driven temperatures past 40 degrees Celsius on several occasions this month, is anticipated to extend through Monday.

In the Galicia region, fires have forced the closure of several highways. Additionally, the high-speed rail line linking Galicia to the Spanish capital, Madrid, remains suspended.

The fires in Spain this year have scorched 158,000 hectares, or 610 square miles, according to the European Union's European Forest Fire Information System. This is an area approximately the size of metropolitan London.

For both Spain and Portugal, the day was marked by the Feast of the Assumption, a significant Catholic holiday typically celebrated with family gatherings and religious processions.

In Portugal, nearly 4,000 firefighters are engaged in battling seven major fires. Authorities have extended the state of alert until Sunday due to high temperatures predicted to persist throughout the weekend.

Meanwhile, in Greece, a wildfire on the island of Chios burned out of control for the fourth consecutive day, leading to further evacuations during the night.

In the northern part of Chios, in the eastern Aegean Sea, two water-dropping planes and two helicopters were deployed, as a temporary lull in high winds provided early Friday relief to the firefighters.

Earlier this week, several large fires erupted in western Greece. Consequently, the Fire Service was on high alert on Friday in areas outside Athens and surrounding regions in the south, where adverse weather conditions increased the fire risk.

The spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, expressed solidarity on Friday with those affected by the wildfires in southern Europe. His words came during prayers for the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, an important religious holiday for Orthodox Christians. (AP)

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