Скачать или смотреть Spain and Portugal struggle to contain their largest wildfires in history

In Spain, the northern regions of Galicia (Ourense) and Castile and León (León and Zamora) are among the areas most affected by the fires.

In the south, flames continue to spread around Cáceres in Extremadura, as well as in the northern Asturias region.

In Galicia alone, more than 60,000 hectares have burned since the beginning of the month, while across Spain nearly 120,000 hectares of forest have been destroyed so far this year.

In León, wildfires are still active in 14 separate locations.

— "The climate emergency is becoming increasingly severe and widespread"

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited Ourense and Zamora, the hardest-hit provinces.

In a press statement, Sánchez announced that the Spanish Military Emergency Unit (UME), which has been supporting firefighting efforts for the past two weeks with 1,400 troops on the ground, would send an additional 500 soldiers.

“The climate emergency in our country is becoming increasingly serious and widespread,” Sánchez said, calling on all political parties to set aside disputes and agree on a comprehensive national response to mitigate the crisis.

— One-third of Portugal’s Arganil region destroyed

In Portugal, more than 64,000 hectares burned in just the last two days.

According to the Portuguese state news agency Lusa, citing data from the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests, 75,000 hectares had already burned between January 1 and August 14. The recent fires added another 64,000 hectares, bringing the total to 139,000 hectares destroyed this year.

Currently, major wildfires are raging in eight areas of the country, most notably in the northern Arganil region.

Local authorities in Arganil reported that 10,000 hectares — one-third of the region’s total area — have been consumed by flames.

Both the Spanish and Portuguese governments announced they have activated the European Civil Protection Mechanism in response to the fires.