Devastating forest fires in Spain and Portugal claim several lives

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• Record forest fires are raging in Spain and have already destroyed over 343,000 hectares.
• 23 major fires are on the second-highest alert level and several people have died.
• In Portugal, too, thousands of firefighters are battling fires with fatalities.

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Several large fires have been blazing in Spain for a week. Forest fires have already burned more land in Spain than ever before in an entire year. More than 343,000 hectares have fallen victim to the flames since the beginning of the year, the European forest fire information system Effis announced on Monday.

This is roughly equivalent to the area of almost half a million football pitches. The worst year to date was 2022, with an area of 306,000 hectares burnt.

There are currently 23 major fires that are at operational level two, explained the Director General of Civil Protection, Virgina Barcones, on state TV station RTVE.

Beyond this highest regional operational level, the only option would be for the central government to declare a national state of emergency - but this is not being considered.

A fourth person has died in the severe forest and vegetation fires in the north and west of Spain. A firefighter was killed when the fire engine in which he was traveling in the province of León fell down an embankment during the night.

The cause of the accident is as yet unknown, as the Europa Press news agency and other media reported, citing the regional emergency services. Earlier, three men - including two volunteers - had already succumbed to severe burns.

Forest fires are also currently raging in Portugal

The neighboring country of Portugal has also been burning for days. A firefighter died there in an accident on Sunday while on duty. He is the second fatality in Spain's neighboring country.

On Monday, five major fires were active in the popular vacation destination. According to the civil defense, these and smaller fires were fought by a total of more than 3,800 firefighters. Sparsely populated areas in the center of the country are particularly affected.