Spain hit by worst wildfires on record in 45 degrees Celsius heat wave

Over in Europe, Spain and Portugal continue to battle wildfires as several large fires are still burning amid a blistering heat wave.

Spain has been hit with the worst wildfires on record, even closing parts of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route.

Lee Eun-jin has the details.

As southern Europe is experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons in two decades, Spain and Portugal are among the hardest-hit countries.

According to Reuters, about 20 wildfires have devastated thousands of hectares in the regions of Galicia, Castile and Leon in the past week alone.

The authorities have halted rail services in the area, as well as closing a 50-kilometer section of the ancient pilgrimage path, the Camino de Santiago, which attracts thousands of visitors during the summer.

Data from the European Forest Fire Information System shows that the wildfires have burned 344-thousand-400 hectares of forest in Spain so far this year, marking it the largest wildfire-damaged area on record in nearly 20 years.

Spain's state weather agency has reported that the heatwave spanning 16 consecutive days is the third-longest on record, and temperatures have reached up to 45 degrees Celsius.

"The clear message we get from fires of this magnitude now, from storms as we are having in autumn or winter, is that the climate emergency ravaging the world is accelerating, becoming more serious and more frequent Science has been warning us about this for a long time."

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez added that this may be the biggest EU deployment of civil security in history.

The Spanish army has deployed 3-thousand military personnel and 50 aircraft to aid firefighting efforts, and according to its interior ministry, Spain is also receiving or has been offered help from France, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Germany and the Czech Republic through the European Civil Protection mechanism.

The authorities said that since June, they have arrested 27 people on suspicion of arson and are investigating 92 others.

Lee Eunjin, Arirang News.