Where are the fires in Spain? 14 major wildfires burning in hotspots including Castile and León and Galicia - two people killed and several hospitalised
Currently 14 major fires are burning in the northwest of Spain.
Two people have been killed in the fires in Castile and León and seven people were hospitalised on Wednesday. Fires are continuing to rage - notably in the Castile and León and Galicia regions.
More than 8,000 people have been evacuated as a precautionary measure in the face of two fires in the provinces of León and Zamora. According to the president of Galicia, Alfonso Rueda, thirty fires are being extinguished every day in the region.
Some 11,500 hectares have burned, particularly in the Ourense province where firefighters have been unable to contain a large fire in Chandrexa de Queixa. Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said on Wednesday that Spain has called on the European Union's assistance mechanism to help fight at least 14 fires currently ravaging the country.
Among other things, it requested two Canadair firefighting aircraft, in anticipation of the fires getting worse. Evacuation centres are pushed to capacity while the heatwave aggravates the wildfires in Spain.
A heatwave is gripping parts of Europe, with temperatures over 40C in southern France and the Western Balkans, fuelling wildfires, triggering top-level weather alerts and forcing evacuations in several countries. Fires burned in France's Aude wine region, along Bulgaria's southern borders, near Montenegro's capital and coast, and in Turkey's north west - and Hungary recorded record-breaking weekend temperatures.
According to the UK-based Carbon Brief, 2025 is predicted to be the second or third-warmest year on record.