Extreme fire risk warning issued for Spain after seven die

Local residents react in front of the fire during a wildfire in Santa Baia De Montes, northwestern Spain. Picture: Lalo R Villar/AP

Spain battled 14 major fires driven by high winds and aggravated by heat on Friday, as authorities warned of "unfavourable conditions" to tackle flames that have already killed seven people and burned an area the size of London, England.

Firefighters have been battling to put out blazes across southern Europe in one of the worst summers for wildfires in 20 years. A nearly two-week heatwave and southerly winds are worsening the situation in Spain, Virginia Barcones, the director general of emergency services, said on Friday.

"In the western part of the country the situation is extremely worrying," Barcones said on RTVE.

In Galicia, several fires converged to form a large blaze, forcing the closure of highways and rail services to the region.

As fire spread from Galicia's Ourense province to neighbouring Zamora, provoking evacuations, some stayed behind to protect their homes.

People run by a burnt area during a wildfire near the village of Larouco, in the province of Ourense, Spain, on Wednesday. Picture: Miguel Riopa/AFP

Spain's national weather agency Aemet warned of extreme fire risk in the north and west of the country, as temperatures are expected to reach up to 40 degrees Celsius on the north coast.

A fire near Molezuelas de la Carballeda in the Castile and Leon region — one of the largest in Spain's history — had not advanced since Thursday.

That wildfire had, at one point, been spreading by 4,000ha/h, according to national government representative Eduardo Diego.

Summer holidays

The fires caused the closure of more than half a dozen roads on a busy bank holiday weekend, leaving travellers stuck at the height of summer holidays.

Wildfires have burned more than 157,000ha in Spain so far this year, almost double the annual average, according to the European Union's Forest Fire Information Service.

In neighbouring Portugal, meanwhile, thousands of firefighters were battling five large blazes in central and northern parts of the country — with one fire in Trancoso, some 350km northeast of Lisbon, now raging for six days.

Around 300 residents were evacuated on Friday from the village of Covanca near Piodao, an area of central Portugal popular with tourists, after a wildfire broke out on Wednesday.

Portugal has activated the EU mechanism for assistance and requested four Canadair planes, according to civil protection commander Mario Silvestre.