A firefighter plane tries to extinguish a wildfire near Tavira in southern Portugal. Photo:AFP
The World Daily | News Desk AUGUST 17th 2021
The fires in southern Europe are not extinguished. In Portugal, smoke was felt in resorts in the south of the country. In France, it was recommended to avoid towns within a distance of about 50 kilometers from the popular Saint-Tropez. More than 1,000 people were evacuated in Spain.
Very high temperatures have been sustained in large parts of southern Europe in recent weeks, triggering a wave of fires, fueled by strong winds. Scientists from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said last week that July was the warmest month in the world in the history of measurements.
Fires in Portugal
More than half a thousand people, supported by 100 fire trucks and 11 firefighting helicopters, fought a large fire that consumed forests and wastelands in the popular Algarve region in southern Portugal.
Portuguese civil defense said that by Monday morning residents of three towns had to be evacuated in the area of the city of Castro Marim in the Faro district, where the fire broke out. According to information from the fire brigade, although in the early afternoon it seemed that the element was already under control, the fire intensified as a result of nearly 40-degree heat and strong gusts of wind.
The smell of smoke from the rapidly spreading fire in Castro Marim was felt on Monday night in most tourist resorts along the southern coast of Portugal.
Fires in Spain
In neighboring Spain, a fire in the Avila province consumed more than 12,000 hectares of forest. According to civil defense, it is the largest area burned in the country this year. Experts quoted by the 20 Minutos portal claim that this area is only a small part of the forest areas at risk of fire. They indicated that on Monday afternoon the fire was already directly threatening 20,000 hectares of such areas in the central part of the country.
