Spain has deployed an additional 500 soldiers to tackle devastating wildfires sweeping across the country, bringing the total number of military personnel involved to 1,900.
So far this year, flames have consumed 158,000 hectares of land—an area nearly the size of metropolitan London—according to the EU’s European Forest Fire Information System. Three people have died in the past week alone.
Authorities are battling as many as 20 major fires, particularly in Galicia in the northwest, where several blazes have merged into a massive front, disrupting road and rail traffic.
International assistance is arriving, with two water-bombing planes from the Netherlands set to join firefighting aircraft from France and Italy. Reinforcements from other countries are also expected in the coming days, Civil Protection Agency head Virginia Barcones said on state television RTVE.
Southern Europe is enduring one of its most severe wildfire seasons in two decades, with Spain among the worst affected. Climate experts note that while the region has always faced wildfires, droughts, and heatwaves, rising global temperatures are intensifying the conditions that drive such extreme weather.
