![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/002302af-614.jpg\"\/)
\nA field burned by fire in Tres Cantos, Madrid in Spain<\/p>\n
A man died after suffering burns and thousands fled their homes in Spain as wildfires fuelled by a heatwave scorched southern Europe.<\/p>\n
Heat alerts were issued in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and the Balkans, with temperatures expected to soar above 40C. One child died of heatstroke in Italy yesterday.<\/p>\n
A man who suffered serious burns died in hospital as winds of up to 70 kilometres per hour whipped flames through Tres Cantos, a wealthy suburb north of the Spanish capital of Madrid, officials said.<\/p>\n
He was the first fatality from dozens of wildfires that have hit Spain since a heatwave began last week.<\/p>\n
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on X that rescue services “are working tirelessly to extinguish the fires” and warned: “We are at extreme risk of forest fires. Please be very cautious.”<\/p>\n
Hundreds of residents of Tres Cantos left their homes due to the risk from the blaze, which was contained this morning.<\/p>\n
“In barely 40 minutes, the fire advanced six kilometres,” Carlos Novillo, Madrid’s regional environment chief, told reporters.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, about 2,000 people were evacuated from hotels and homes near the popular beaches of Tarifa in the southern region of Andalusia<\/p>\n
Firefighters battle wildfire overnight in Spain’s Leon province<\/p>\n
\n
Saved at ‘last second’ <\/p>\n
The wildfire broke out near where a similar blaze forced evacuations earlier this month.<\/p>\n
“We managed to save the residential area at the very last second,” said Antonio Sanz, the Andalusia region’s interior minister.<\/p>\n
A Civil Guard police officer was injured after being struck by a car while helping with the evacuation, he added.<\/p>\n
In the northwestern region of Castile and Leon, more than 30 blazes were reported, including one threatening Las M\u00e9dulas, a UNESCO World Heritage site known for its ancient Roman gold mines.<\/p>\n
Meteorologists predicted that today will be the hottest day yet of the heatwave, with all regions under weather alerts.<\/p>\n
\nA field burned by fire in Tres Cantos, Madrid in Spain<\/p>\n
Forecasters said temperatures would hit around 40C and overnight lows would remain above 25C.<\/p>\n
In neighbouring Portugal, firefighters battled three large wildfires, with the most serious near Trancoso in the centre of the country.<\/p>\n
More than 700 firefighters and four aircraft were deployed.<\/p>\n
Authorities warned that temperatures in southern Portugal could reach 44C.<\/p>\n
Morocco sent two Canadair planes to assist after two of Portugal’s own water-dropping aircraft broke down.<\/p>\n
Climate experts say global warming is driving longer, more intense and more frequent heatwaves around the world.<\/p>\n
Agriculture hit <\/p>\n
Temperature records were broken at at least four weather stations in southern France yesterday and three-quarters of the country was under heat alerts with temperatures forecast to top 36C in the Paris region and 40C in the Rh\u00f4ne Valley.<\/p>\n
In the Rhone department, authorities suspended outdoor construction work from midday until 10pm and banned outdoor public events.<\/p>\n
French Health Minister Catherine Vautrin said hospitals were braced for fallout from the country’s second heatwave in just a few weeks.<\/p>\n
Temperatures started rising on Friday and could remain high into next week, according to the national weather office M\u00e9t\u00e9o-France.<\/p>\n
That would make it a 12 to 14-day stretch of extreme heat.<\/p>\n
Eleven Italian cities, including Rome, Milan and Florence, have been placed on red alert due to the heat.<\/p>\n
The scorching temperatures and drought have hit agriculture hard.<\/p>\n
Italy’s main farm lobby, Coldiretti association, said vegetable production in the southeastern Apulia region has dropped by 30%.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, officials said a wildfire near Mount Vesuvius has been brought under control after burning nearly 600 hectares over four days.<\/p>\n
In England, a water shortfall was classed as “nationally significant” after experiencing its driest first six months of the year since 1976, the Environment Agency said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man died after suffering burns and thousands fled their homes in Spain as wildfires fuelled by a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-61497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}