Sanchez Warns About Persisting Risks of Wildfires in Spain

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez raised an alarm on Wednesday that the risks of wildfires are increasing in the country amid a significant rise in temperature.

Sanchez took to Twitter to address the nation.

“Many areas of Spain will reach temperatures higher than 40°C [104°F] and there is a high risk of fires. Let's be prudent for our health and let's follow the indications of Ministry of Health, Directorate-General for Civil Protection and Emergencies and law enforcement bodies, which these days will work to protect us from the heat wave,” the prime minister wrote.

Muchas zonas de España alcanzarán desde hoy temperaturas superiores a 40° y hay alto riesgo de incendios. Seamos prudentes, por nuestra salud, y sigamos las indicaciones de @sanidadgob, @proteccioncivil y de las FCSE, que estos días trabajarán para protegernos ante la #OlaDeCalor https://t.co/wQL2wzDgrk

— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) August 11, 2021

​Since the beginning of this year, 14 large fires on more than 500 hectares have been recorded, the last of them occurred in the Tiemblo municipality of the central-western Avila province. The greatest in terms of burned area has been in Santa Cruz de Tenerife on May 20. The fire burned about 3,000 hectares there.

According to the Ministry of Environment, between January 1 and August 1, fires have burned a total of 40,213 hectares of forest area, compared to 24,923 in the same period in 2020 marked by the pandemic and 60,498 in 2019.

Currently, several countries in the southeast Mediterranean region, in particular, Greece, Tunisia and Turkey, have been suffering from strong wildfires since early August after the worst heatwave since 1987 descended on the area.