The abnormal heatwave in Europe is increasing the scale and destructive power of forest fires. On Sunday, 5 July alone, fires engulfed vast areas of woodland in Portugal, Spain and France.
This was reported by Le Monde.
The French authorities are concerned that the forest fire season has begun a month early. In particular, the fire engulfed over 1,000 hectares on the slopes of Mount Trevillach, near the city of Perpignan. The blaze grew to such a scale that the authorities were forced to close roads and ordered the setting up of shelters for people who might be forced from their homes by the fires.
In addition to Perpignan, where nearly 600 firefighters were working to extinguish the blaze, a further 300 were deployed to tackle a fire in the mountainous region of the south-eastern department of Drôme.
Spain has perhaps suffered the most damage from the fires. Near the north-eastern coast of the Costa Brava, over 2,200 hectares of woodland were destroyed in just two days. Extinguishing the fires was made more difficult by high air temperatures and numerous separate fire outbreaks.
The ‘human factor’ also played a part. A man has been arrested in connection with a fire that severely affected the Gavarrès nature reserve between Barcelona and the French border.
In Portugal, the fire scorched around 13,000 hectares of woodland in the north of the country. 1,200 firefighters were deployed to tackle the blaze. The country was forced to request aerial support from neighbouring nations, so Spain and Italy sent water-dropping aircraft as reinforcements.
Global warming in practice
The key factor behind the large-scale fires, according to scientists, is climate change. The destructive heatwave that swept across Europe at the end of June intensified the outbreaks.
Extreme temperatures had a significant impact on mortality rates in Western European countries. In France, more than 2,000 excess deaths were recorded in just seven days. Spain and Belgium also reported a sharp rise in mortality, with each country’s total exceeding 1,000 cases.
EcoPolitic reported that the European Union has announced an unprecedented level of preparedness for forest fires. In regions with the highest fire risk, 777 emergency personnel will be on standby. This includes countries such as Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France. To assist in firefighting, the EU is additionally deploying 22 airplanes and 5 helicopters from its air fleet.
