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Fires in southern France have destroyed more than 15,000 hectares of forest since 12 July.
Western European countries face more extreme temperatures on Tuesday as the heatwave heads north.
In France and the United Kingdom, severe heat warnings were issued, while northern Spain recorded temperatures of 43 degrees Celsius on Monday.
Bushfires in recent days in France, Portugal, Spain and Greece forced more than 30,000 people to flee and evacuate their homes, with emergency shelters set up for evacuees. The French National Meteorological Office said that several parts of the country had their hottest days on record, with the western city of Nantes recording 42 degrees Celsius.
France has evacuated more than 16,000 people due to the threat of forest fires sweeping the southwestern region of the country, in light of the spread of other fires in Spain, Croatia and Greece.
The authorities of the famous French tourist region of Gironde were forced to evacuate workers at holiday camp sites, following tourists left earlier, and fires spread in the Test-de-Bosch and Landera regions.
In southern Spain, more than 3,200 people fled the fires in the Mijas hills, although some were able to return later.
Other fires are under control in Portugal for the time being.
Over the past few days, more than a thousand people died due to the heat in Portugal and Spain.
photo released, EPA
Fires are still spreading in Landera, in southwestern France
The Mijas fires in Spain are not far from the popular tourist region of Málaga, and forest fires have broken out in the provinces of Castile, Leon, Galicia and Extremadura.
“We picked up some necessary things and actually ran away, at that time everyone was running in the street… We saw a lot of ambulances and firetrucks,” Elaine McCurdy, who lives in the Malaga region, told Archyde.com news agency.
And the authorities have deployed in a number of countries in the Mediterranean region, from Morocco in the west to the island of Crete in the east, thousands of firefighters and many firefighting aircraft that use water-spraying launchers.
The entire Mediterranean region has been facing, since Tuesday, a severe heat wave, which has caused the plants to dry out.
Extreme heat waves have become frequent and last longer due to climate change resulting from human behavior, which has already led to a global warming of regarding 1.1 degrees Celsius since the beginning of the industrial era, and temperatures will continue to rise unless governments of countries in various around the world with a sharp reduction in carbon emissions.
photo released, EPA
The fires in northern Portugal are the worst since 2017
The French Meteorological Agency had forecast temperatures of 41 degrees Celsius in the south of the country on Sunday, and new temperatures are expected to be recorded on Monday.
In Portugal, the temperature was recently recorded at 47 degrees Celsius.
The authorities in the United Kingdom have also issued a warning of extreme temperatures in areas of England, a warning bearing the “red color”, while the country is preparing to record record temperatures on Monday and Tuesday, and may reach 41 degrees Celsius in some areas.
“Rising temperatures are a sign of climate change,” Eunice Law, a climate scientist at the University of Bristol, told the BBC. The UK sees 2,000 deaths a year due to heat waves.
Public records indicate that since 1884 the UK has had its hottest ten years since 2002. Referring to the situation globally, Low added: “Heatwaves are becoming more common and lasting longer. We need to stop using fossil fuels, and act now. And quickly.”
Moroccan authorities also ordered more than 1,300 people to leave their homes and deploy more firefighters to fight forest fires in the north of the country, with the Larache region worst affected.
On the island of Crete, firefighters are battling massive fires in the hills around the city of Rethymno on the north coast, and said on Saturday they had partially contained the fires.
photo released, EPA
For fires in the Mijas hills of southern Spain not far from holiday centers
Some areas in southwestern Turkey and on the Croatian Adriatic coast were also affected by forest fires, and fires broke out near the towns of Zadar and Sibenik, which are among the Croatian resorts, but they did not have to conduct large evacuations.
And put the French authorities, late on Saturday, 22 provinces, mostly along the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean, on high alert, bearing the “orange color.”
A resident of southwestern France described the bushfires as “extremely horrific”, which destroyed 10,500 hectares (26,000 acres) of land there, and the Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmannan, praised the “remarkable courage” shown by the firefighters.
“Everything happened so fast, the fires were huge, so massive,” Manon Jakkart, 27, told the BBC. -Bush, includes hundreds of other people also affected by the danger of fires.
She said, “I’m worried, scared…I’m trying to be as strong as I can but I’m not feeling well…I want to forget this week.”
At the same time, authorities urged Alpine climbers to postpone their trips to Mont Blanc due to the danger of rockfalls due to “exceptional climatic conditions”.
Eunice Lu said that heat waves expose citizens to the risk of heat stroke, heat exhaustion and drowning, as citizens scramble to reduce the heat they are exposed to, and pets and farm animals are also at risk.
“Even healthy people are at risk,” she added, although young children, the elderly and those with difficult health conditions are the most vulnerable groups.
Extreme heat can also cause damage to infrastructure, such as damaged roads and rail lines.
Fires in Portugal have destroyed 30,000 hectares (75,000 acres) of land this year, mostly in the north of the country. This is the worst fire damage since the summer of 2017, when devastating fires killed nearly 100 people.
In southern Spain, holidaymakers on the beach in Torremolinos saw thick plumes of smoke from fires in the mountains.
Airplanes drop firefighting materials, and helicopters roam the coast, collecting seawater to put out fires.
“There are regarding 40 houses in our area, everyone was really nervous, they were standing outside or on the balconies watching the situation,” said Ashley Baker, a local resident.
“So far there are fires up in the mountains, I’m away from here, I feel very relieved,” she added.
