The intense and unusual heat wave that hits Spain, the earliest in decades, with temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius in various parts of the territory, is complicating the extinction of numerous forest fires in various communities, where several thousand hectares have already burned.
These fires occur in the midst of a hot episode that will continue to leave a suffocating atmosphere, at least, until the weekend with temperatures that again exceeded 40 degrees this Thursday in the southwest and northeast of the Peninsula.
Catalonia (northeast of Spain) has been affected since yesterday by three large simultaneous fires that are expected to stabilize this Thursday and that have already devastated more than 1,600 hectares.
In Navarra (northern Spain), the fires declared in the mountain range remain active although in the stabilization phase, although there is still a high risk that they will revive given the extreme temperatures that are recorded and the wind, from the south and, therefore, very dry.
In Castilla y León (central Spain), extinguishing the fires that remain active in the region is proving complex due to various factors. These are multiple fires, with changing winds and new sources, produced during the night in a complicated orography, which have burned hectares of pine forests, scrubland and chestnut trees.
UP TO 43 DEGREES
The fire declared in Pujerra, in the tourist city of Malaga (southern Spain), which affected some 3,500 hectares, was controlled on Wednesday afternoon. the fire, which forced the eviction of almost 2,000 people from towns located on the Costa del Sol, It began on a farm where a road was being prepared without permission.
The forest fires in Spain are being aggravated by the heat wave that affects almost the entire country a few days before the start of summer, and that continues to leave a suffocating environment due to the high temperatures that shoot mercury above the 40 degrees.
During the day on Friday, a new rise in thermometers is expected in the south and northeast of the country to touch 43 degrees in some cities. The heat wave in which Spain is immersed is one of the earliest since records have been recorded together with that of June 1981, although the hottest moment of the latter was less intense than that of the current one.
This hot episode is triggering sales of fans and air conditioners in department stores after demand has grown by up to 70% in some stores.
FRANCE AFFECTED BY THE WAVE
The heat wave is also felt in the neighboring country, France, where 12 of its 101 departments activated the red alert by temperatures that will reach 40 degrees in several cities in the southwest.
The departments most affected by this hot episode, which will worsen over the weekend and which is leaving record values for a month of June, will be those of the southwest and the Atlantic coast.
(With information from EFE)
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Source-www.infobae.com