Fires and extreme temperatures cause suffocation in western Europe

Many countries in western Europe are still battling devastating forest fires today, a consequence of the unprecedented heatwave they have been experiencing for days and which is threatening to “smash” many maximum temperature records early this week.

This heat wave is the second to sweep western Europe in less than a month. The proliferation of these phenomena is considered a direct consequence of global warming, as the emissions of gases that cause the greenhouse effect increase their intensity, duration and frequency.

In southwestern France, firefighters remain on high alert, particularly in the Gironde, where around 110,000 hectares of forest have been reduced to ash since last Tuesday. Today the temperature is expected to exceed 40 degrees Celsius in places. The meteorological service Météo-France put 15 regions of western France on “red alert”. “The heat wave is spreading across the country,” the agency warned.

Tomorrow is expected to be “the hottest day for the west of the country”, forecasters predict, with the mercury hitting 40 degrees in many parts of Brittany, Lower Normandy, Aquitaine and elsewhere.

For now, in the tourist area of ​​Arcachon, on the Atlantic Ocean, the fires appear to be under control, although several flare-ups occurred on the night of Saturday into Sunday and threatened camps on the Dunes of Pila, which had to be evacuated, the district said of Gironde.

In total, more than 14,000 residents and holidaymakers have been forced to pack up and leave the area since last Tuesday.

-Up to 42° in Spain –

In Spain, about 20 fires are raging out of control in various parts of the country, from the south to Galicia in the northwest. Today the authorities allowed 300 residents in the Malaga area (out of the 3,000 who had been forced to leave for precautionary reasons) to return to their homes.

The Spanish meteorological service predicted for today “significantly high” temperatures in most of the country and in the Balearic Islands, in the Mediterranean. In Logrono, in the north, the thermometer is expected to show up to 42 degrees, while in Madrid and Seville the heat “hits red”, with 40 degrees.

In neighboring Portugal the situation is much better on the fire front and, for the first time since July 8, the temperature was not expected to exceed 40 degrees. Only one major fire remains, near the community of Chávez in the north, but the civil protection service considers that it too is “essentially 90% contained”. However, the authorities are not complacent, since even today the risk of fire remains “very high” or “high”, especially in central and northern Portugal.

At the latest count, the wildfires that have swept the country over the past week have left behind two dead, 60 injured and 120-150,000 hectares of forest burned.

-Red Alert in UK-

Further north in Britain, the Met Office issued its first “red alert” warning that the extreme heat expected in the country is considered “life-threatening”. In the south of England the mercury could exceed 40 degrees on Monday or Tuesday, the Met Office said.

In the Netherlands, the Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) today announced a “National Heat Plan” and issued an alert from tomorrow for the whole country, forecasting temperatures to reach 35 degrees on Monday and up to 38 degrees in places , on Tuesday. Due to the heat, the first day of the four-day walk that takes place every year, with the participation of thousands of people from all over the world, in the city of Nijmegen was cancelled. According to the organizers, the conditions expected to prevail in the coming days will be worse than those of 2006, when two of the participants died due to the heat.

The Netherlands is suffering from a drought, and authorities have imposed restrictions on water use in many areas, including in Limburg, a province that was heavily damaged by floods a year ago.