After several days of intense firefighting, firefighters have started to control major fires in parts of Europe, mainly in France and Spain, and the situation on the ground is calmer this Thursday (21). However, wildfires hit by severe heatwaves, particularly in the western part of the continent, have already destroyed more of an area in those first seven months than in the entirety of 2021, according to the European expert monitoring service.
Two fires that destroyed 20,800 hectares of forest in the Gironde region in the southwestern part of France did not progress tonight either. Firefighters on Thursday morning are still battling some outbreaks, according to officials. The events lasted 10 days and resulted in the evacuation of more than 36,000 people.
On Wednesday (20), the nearly 2,000 firefighters involved in the operation were able to stop the fire from spreading, thanks to more favorable weather conditions, cooler temperatures and more humid weather. However, citizens have not yet returned to their homes.
In Spain, the regional government of Aragon reported that the fight against the fire in the city of Ateca, located in the northeast of the country, was “positive in the last hours” and that the firefighters managed to prevent the flames from re-igniting. The fire on Monday (18) reached 14,000 hectares and evacuated 1,700 people.
“Residents’ return to vacant areas is imminent, but we must be careful,” said Governor Javier Lambán.
The section of the A2 motorway connecting Madrid to Barcelona, which had to be stopped due to the flames, was reopened to traffic this morning.
In recent days, Spain has been rocked by devastating fires fueled by a heatwave that lasted from 9 to 18 July and may be the most extreme ever recorded in the country, according to provisional data from the national meteorological agency (AEMET).
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that since the beginning of the year, about 70,000 hectares of land have been converted to ash in the country, “almost double the average of the last decade” in the same period.
Burnt surface record
With measurements different from satellite observations, the European Forest Fire Information System (Effis) concludes that 2022 is the worst year since the start of the statistical series in 2000, when Spain was charred by 319 fires on 194,704 hectares. That’s more than the previous record year in its entirety, 2012.
The fire that broke out on Sunday (17) and Monday (18) in Zamora province (northwest), one of the worst in recent days, which resulted in the deaths of a firefighter and a shepherd, continued “calmly and uneventfully”. flames” showed the region of Castile and Leon.
After a brief pause in temperatures on Tuesday (19) and Wednesday, Spain sees thermometers rise again from this Thursday, with forecasts of 41ºC in Extremadura (southwest) and 40ºC in Andalusia (south), with much of the region on alert. to AEMET.
EU burned more land in 2022 than in all of 2021
In 27 countries of the European Union (EU), fires have devastated a total of 517,881 hectares since the beginning of the year (data as of 16 July), ie just over 5,000 km2, equivalent to the surface of an area in France. Mayenne is in the Loire country or on the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago.
According to data compiled by Effis, during the whole of 2021, marked by numerous fires in Italy and Greece, 470.359 hectares (4,700 km2) burned in EU countries.
If the trend continues, 2022 will equal or exceed 2017, the worst year recorded in the EU since Effis was established in 2000, with 988,087 hectares of vegetation, or about 10,000 km2, or a country’s area lost in smoke. Like Lebanon.
“Even if we expect temperature anomalies, the situation is worse than anticipated,” explains Jesus San Miguel, Effis coordinator. The expert points out that “the heat wave was decisive. [nos incêndios] and clearly linked to global warming”.
Since the beginning of the year, about 40,000 hectares have burned in France, while just over 30,000 for the whole of 2021. In Spain, over 190,000 hectares burned during the same period; year 2021 and more than 46,000 in Portugal and more than 25,000 in 2021.
Even countries unaccustomed to wildfires, such as the United Kingdom, where temperatures exceeded 40°C for the first time this week, are seeing large areas burn. According to Effis, just over 20,000 hectares of flames have burned across the country since the start of the year, compared to just over 6,000 acres in 2021.
“We knew it was going to be a tough summer and it had to go on, we weren’t even halfway through the fire season,” San Miguel said. “Previously the season was intense from July to September, now we have longer seasons and very intense fires,” he adds.
With information from AFP
source: Noticias
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