Spain temperatures to surpass 44C as wildfires burn across Europe

Spain is set to see scorching temperatures of more than 44C this week as wildfires continue to burn across Europe.

Dangerous severe red heat alerts are in place in several regions on the south east coast on Thursday as a heatwave sweeps across Europe once more.

Vega del Segura and Valle del Guadalentín, Lorca and Águilas will see temperatures hotter than 44C, according to Spanish weather forecaster Agencia Estatal de Meteorlogia (AEMET).

Firefighters continue to tackle Spain’s second largest wildfire in history in Guadalajara, central Spain, which has already burned 32,000 hectares of land (around 124 square miles).

So far 34 villages have been evacuated and helicopters have been dropping water on the blaze.

There are no reported injuries.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called for politicians to work together to fight climate change as the country has faced 22 major fires this year, four times more than last year.

Tens of thousands of hectares have been scorched in a wildfire in Muriel, in Spain’s Guadalajara province. / Credit: AP

Visiting emergency services in village of Tamajón, near the blaze, he described how more than 100,000 hectares (386 square miles) have been scorched in Spanish wildfires, which is the “annual average that Spain suffered in the last decade”.

He warned: “Year after year we clearly see how climate change kills and destroys wealth in our communities. This isn’t politics. It is science, it’s about facts.”

It comes just two weeks after a wildfire in southern Spain killed 13 people including seven Brits. On Wednesday, July 22, forecasters announced Spain’s third heatwave of the year.

Emergency services managed to control the French fire but hotspots remain. / Credit: AP

In Cotignac, southern France, a firefighters worked to extinguish a blaze as drought conditions worsen following the heatwave.

Across Italy more than 100 hectares of woodland and Mediterranean scrub land has been destroyed by wildfires.

Firefighters were called out 30 times to a fire in Vibo Valentia, southern Italy, which continues to burn.

Europe is the world’s fastest warming continent according a report by the UN’s World Meteorological Organisation and the European Union’s climate agency, Copernicus.

More than 10,000 deaths across Europe could be attributed to the late June heatwave, figures from mortality monitoring service EuroMOMO suggest.