Firefighters from Portugal and Spain to southern France are battling a spate of wildfires scorching Western Europe amid an unusual heat wave that authorities link to climate change.
A firefighting airplane drops its load on a forest fire raging in the village of Casal da Quinta, outside Leiria, central Portugal, Tuesday, July 12, 2022. Hundreds of firefighters in Portugal continue to battle fires in the center of the country that forced the evacuation of dozens of people from their homes mostly in villages around Santarem, Leiria and Pombal.
The European heat wave is also sparking flames in Spain and France — and in Turkey at the other end of the Mediterranean. Images from firefighters showed flames racing through thickets of trees and grassland, fanned by strong winds, and smoke blackening the horizon. Last year, Portugal recorded its lowest number of wildfires since 2011. But a mass of hot and dry air blown in by African winds are driving temperatures in the Iberian Peninsula beyond their usual highs.
European Union officials issued a warning last week that climate change is behind the extremely dry and hot summer so far on the continent, urging local authorities to brace for wildfires.
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