Like France, Spain has been confronted for a week with an extreme and unusual heat wave at this time of the year, considered by scientists as a consequence of global warming.
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Spain is experiencing the last day of an extreme and unusually early heat wave. The emergency services continue, Saturday, June 18, to fight against fires. The most important of these forest fires forced the authorities to evacuate 14 villages, regrouping several hundred inhabitants, in the Sierra de la Culebra, a mountain range in the region of Castile and Leon, in the north-west of the country, near the border with Portugal.
According to the regional authorities, some of them were able to return to their homes on Saturday morning, the flames having moved away from the homes concerned. But the fire “stay active”underlined the government of Castile and Leon, referring to weather conditions “unfavourable”, with a dry wind and high temperatures. In total, nearly “19,765 hectares burned” in this fire.
Four heat waves in ten months
Spanish firefighters also continued to fight other fires in Caudiel, in the Valencia region, or in Artesa de Segre, in Catalonia, where 1,600 hectares were ravaged. Other fires were on the other hand under control, in particular in the valley of Iruelas, in the west of the country, and in the region of Toledo, where nearly 900 hectares burned.
This series of fires comes as Spain has been facing an extreme and unusual heat wave for a week, a consequence of global warming. The country on the Hispanic peninsula has already gone through four episodes of extreme temperatures over the past ten months, including the current heat wave.