Fire "tsunami" - Spain's head of government interrupts his vacation

According to official figures, the flames have already destroyed around 1,150 square kilometers in the past two weeks - an area more than twice the size of Lake Constance. Thousands of people had to be evacuated from their homes. At least three people lost their lives.

On Sunday, Spain registered a total of 20 fires of the highest danger level two, explained the Director General of Civil Protection, Virginia Barcones, in an interview with the state TV station RTVE.

The situation is worrying and is being exacerbated by the ongoing drought and heatwave with temperatures of over 40 degrees. The weather service Aemet warns of an increased risk of fire in several regions of the country until Monday.

Spain had requested support from its EU partners as part of the civil protection mechanism. According to Barcones, two fire-fighting planes from the Netherlands were expected to arrive on Sunday. An aid convoy of more than 20 fire engines from Germany was due to set off for Spain.

Several arrests for arson

Most recently, a total of 13 rural roads were closed in the autonomous communities of Galicia, Castile and León, as well as in Extremadura and Asturias. In Galicia, a rail link was also interrupted. Some villages and smaller municipalities were banned from going out.

So far, sparsely populated areas in particular have been affected. Large parts of nature reserves were also destroyed. The village of Palacios de Jamuz in León was partially destroyed, as a video showed. Several people were arrested on charges of arson.

Thousands of members of the fire department, the military emergency unit UME, the civil defense and the police have been fighting the flames for days. They are supported by dozens of helicopters and fire-fighting aircraft.

Firefighters report extreme heat, smoke and areas that are difficult to access. "It's like trying to stop a tsunami," the newspaper "El País" quoted an incident commander in Ourense.

2025 one of the worst fire years

According to the latest data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), more than 1570 square kilometers (157,000 hectares) of forest and vegetation have been destroyed by fires in Spain since the beginning of the year (until 16 August) - twice the area of Hamburg (755 square kilometers).

This makes 2025 the third worst fire year of the past two decades after just eight months, surpassed only by 2022 (around 306,000 hectares) and 2012 (almost 190,000 hectares).

In neighboring Portugal, the fires are also at their worst in years. More than 3,200 firefighters battled nine major fires on Sunday. According to civil protection, the situation was particularly critical in Arganil in the district of Coimbra and in Sátão in the district of Viseu in the center of the country. Lisbon also asked for EU help and is expecting two fire-fighting planes from Sweden.

Rural exodus also plays a role

According to experts, the more frequent and longer periods of drought caused by climate change are not the only reason for the increasing fire risk in Spain. Forest and scrubland areas there have increased from twelve million to 27 million hectares over the past 50 years. Many of these forests in areas with rural exodus are hardly used anymore, meaning that enormous quantities of combustible material are accumulating, RTVE reported.