Spain declares emergency as wildfires force thousands of evacuations

Wildfires continued to rage across southern Europe prompting mass evacuations and emergency responses in Spain France and Italy as authorities battled fastmoving blazes fuelled by extreme heat and strong winds according to EuronewsSpain has declared a national emergency as wildfires threaten communities near Madrid and in the province of AvilaAccording to Euronews authorities said fires burning in the towns of Villa del Prado and San Martin de Valdeiglesias west of the Spanish capital remain out of control although emergency crews have managed to slow their spread in recent hoursThousands of residents have been evacuated from the affected areas while parts of Spain are forecast to witness temperatures of up to 44 degrees Celsius on FridayAnnouncing the move the Government of Spain said in a post on X Tonight a national interest emergency has been declared due to the fires in Madrid and Avila Other provinces are also affected by the forest firesMeanwhile France has sought assistance through the European Unions civil protection mechanism as multiple wildfires continue to spread across the country amid scorching temperaturesFrench President Emmanuel Macron in a post on X said the situation remained very high tension particularly in the southwestern department of Gironde where fires have scorched more than 8700 hectaresThe situation remains under very high tension in the face of the fires ravaging the country particularly in Gironde Macron said in his postFrance has requested the activation of the European Unions civil protection mechanism We will soon be able to count on reinforcements from two Croatian Canadair aircraft two Portuguese Air Tractor planes as well as two heavy Black Hawk helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia the post addedThe Gironde wildfire which broke out in Saumos on Tuesday has spread toward Le Porge and LegeCapFerret forcing authorities to evacuate around 20000 people Euronews reportedMacron also paid tribute to two firefighters who lost their lives while battling a blaze in the Merignac suburb of Bordeaux earlier this weekMy thoughts go out to our firefighters and the rescue forces who are battling relentlessly on the fire front Their courage commands respect his post addedAccording to Euronews Gironde witnessed devastating wildfires in 2022 that forced nearly 50000 people to flee after more than 30000 hectares of forest were destroyedAnother major wildfire is burning near the villages of Correns and MontfortsurArgens in the Var department of southeastern France where about 2700 hectares had been burnt as of Thursday eveningAround 800 firefighters supported by aerial firefighting resources have been deployed to contain the blaze Euronews reportedIn Italy nearly 6000 emergency responders including firefighters forest guards and civil protection personnel have been deployed to combat wildfires across SicilyAccording to the regional government the most severe fires have been reported in Casaboli Bivona Alimena San Cataldo Galati Mamertino parts of the Madonie Regional Natural Park and the Syracuse areaA firefighter Alessandro Marchi died while responding to a wildfire in San Cataldo earlier this weekExpressing condolences Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a post on X The passing of the Battalion Chief Alessandro Marchi deeply saddens us He lost his life while engaged in the operations to extinguish a vast fire in San Cataldo carrying out his duty to the very end with courage dedication and an extraordinary sense of responsibility To his family his colleagues and the entire National Fire Department I extend my most heartfelt condolences and my closenessAccording to data from the European Forest Fires Information System cited by Euronews wildfires have burned 254388 hectares across the European Union since the beginning of this yearWhile the figure is above the longterm average it remains below the 270449 hectares burnt during the same period in 2025This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever