The burning smell of Portugal’s major forest fires reached Madrid on Tuesday, Spanish relief workers reported, as the two countries battle the flames.

“We have received many calls in Madrid-112 from citizens concerned about the smell of burning and smoke: it is a fire in Portugal,” the emergency services of the Community of Madrid (112) wrote on Twitter, receiving 380 calls.

Europe hit by drought and heat wave

A satellite image, released by the emergency services, shows a column of smoke that extends over 300 km, the distance between Portugal and the Spanish capital. The two countries, hit by drought and heat wave, are struggling hard against large forest fires.

The fire in the Serra da Estrela, which is already the largest this summer in Portugal, has caused the smoke of some 15,000 hectares, according to the latest still provisional data from the Portuguese authorities.

This fire, declared on August 6 in the vicinity of Covilha (center), destroyed unique forest areas of this park recognized by UNESCO, in the heart of the Serra da Estrela that culminates at about 2000 meters.

While the Civil Protection Command is criticized for its handling of operations, the Portuguese Interior Minister, José Luis Carneiro, promised on Monday to launch an evaluation of the “structural causes” and the “fighting method” against the fires ” once the Serra da Estrela fire has been extinguished”. “.

More than 15,000 people evacuated

In the Spanish province of Alicante (Valencia, southeast), 10,000 hectares have already been burned and the fire, which spread after lightning struck the Vall d’Ebo on Saturday night, has not yet been controlled. More than 15,000 people had to be evacuated, according to authorities.

Also in the Valencian Community, between 11 and 13 passengers were injured, three of them seriously, when the train they were traveling in was found in the middle of another fire, according to the authorities.

“Three of them suffered severe burns,” the Valencia region health department said, adding that one of them had to be evacuated by helicopter. There are also “between 8 and 10 minor injuries,” he added.

Spain also affected by the fires

In the Spanish region of Aragón (northeast), where more than 6,000 hectares have been burned, firefighters seem to have managed to put out the fire.

In Spain, forest fires in 2022 were three times more devastating than in all of 2021, when 84,827 hectares were consumed. Portugal, which is experiencing an exceptional drought this year, experienced the hottest month of July in almost a century.

Since the beginning of the year, some 81,000 hectares have been burned there, the largest area since the deadly fires of 2017, which claimed a hundred victims, according to the latest report from the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests.