Wildfires rage in Spain and Portugal amid searing heat

 

Firefighting efforts continue in Ourense, Spain. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

by  Ajit Niranjan and Sam Jones

Extreme temperatures exacerbated by carbon pollution fuel fires in southern Europe as green policies are rolled back 

 

Relentless heat and raging wildfires continue to ravage southern Europe, with one-quarter of weather stations in Spain recording 40C temperatures, as the prime minister urged people to “leave the climate emergency outside of partisan struggles”.

The Spanish weather agency Aemet recorded a high of 45.8C in Cádiz on Sunday, while one in eight weather stations nationwide hit peaks of at least 42C (108F) . The agency warned of “very high or extreme fire danger” in most of the country in a post on social media on Monday.

“Although the heatwave is starting to subside, very high temperatures will still be reached today in the east and south of the peninsula,” it said. “Be cautious.”

A pyrocumulus cloud swells over Vilarmel village during a fire in the Galicia region of Spain. Photograph: Mikel Konate/Reuters

Deadly fires have burned 348,000 hectares in Spain this year, according to preliminary data published by Copernicus on Monday, charring even more land than when the previous record was set in 2022.

A fourth person was killed by the fires in Spain when a firefighting truck overturned on a steep forest road, while in neighbouring Portugal, which has also had extreme heat, another firefighter died, bringing the national death toll to two. Civil protection authorities said 31,130 people have been evacuated from their homes in the last week.

The Spanish government said on Sunday that an extra 500 soldiers would join the 1,400 troops trying to bring deadly wildfires under control. The prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, announced a “state pact” to tackle the climate emergency as he visited Ourense and León, one of the regions engulfed by flames.

 

“We need a strategy that anticipates a better, more secure and more equitable response for our fellow citizens in the face of the worsening and accelerating effects of the climate emergency in our country,” Sánchez said. “And that requires a great state pact that leaves the climate emergency outside of partisan struggles and ideological issues, where we focus on scientific evidence and act accordingly.”

Sánchez’s proposed pact received a dismissive response from the opposition conservative People’s party (PP), which has called for more troop deployments and accused the prime minister of absenting himself from the crisis.

 

“State pacts don’t put out the flames, nor do they restore what’s been lost,” said Ester Muñoz, a PP spokesperson. “People were expecting a lot more than a smokescreen designed to save his reputation after he’d gone missing for a week.”

Extreme heat, made hotter by carbon pollution, has fuelled devastating wildfires across southern Europe this month, the latest in a series of disasters exacerbated by climate breakdown amid a continental rollback of green policies.

Data from last week shows the blazes have burned at least 530,000 hectares this year, more than double the average over the past two decades, forcing several overwhelmed governments from Spain to Bulgaria to seek firefighting help from the EU. Portugal activated the EU’s civil protection mechanism on Friday with a request for four Canadair water-bombing planes.

 The prolonged heatwave has broken temperature records across the continent. It is expected to die down in Spain after Monday and subsided in some countries over the weekend.

 

Météo France, the French national weather agency, said temperatures had fallen on Sunday but the wildfire risk remained high or very high in several southern regions.

“The Mediterranean and south-western departments of the country are experiencing significant drought, which means that vegetation is highly sensitive to fire,” the agency said on Monday. It added that the rise in daytime temperatures had been limited by smoke from the Spanish and Portuguese wildfires, as well as plumes of Saharan sand.

In Portugal, which has been under a state of alert since the start of the month, large rural fires have killed two people and caused several injuries.

The head of a dead fish lies in the almost-dry Aume riverbed in Saint-Fraigne, France. Photograph: Yohan Bonnet/AP

The minister for internal affairs, Maria Lúcia Amaral, extended the wildfire alert on Sunday until Tuesday night but left a press conference when journalists tried to ask questions, Portuguese media reported. André Ventura, the head of the far-right Chega party, called for her resignation. “We are reaching the limit of what is acceptable,” he said on Sunday.

In a radio interview on Monday morning, Spain’s defence minister, Margarita Robles, said the fires were unlikely to be brought under control until the heatwave ended later on Monday. “We’re not going to be able to end this situation until the heatwave dies down,” Robles told Cadena Ser. “We’re seeing fires with different characteristics because of climate change.”

A woman flees as a forest fire gathers pace in Pampilhosa da Serra, Portugal. Photograph: Paulo Cunha/EPA
 

 She said the Military Emergencies Unit (UME), founded to help deal with disasters, had never faced such challenging conditions. “We’re seeing a fire situation that’s never been seen before. The UME hasn’t seen anything like this since it was established 20 years ago.”

Thousands evacuated in Spain as deadly heatwave fans Mediterranean wildfires. Boy, four, dies of heatstroke in Rome as scientists say high temperatures and fires are reminder of climate emergency

 by Sam Jones in Madrid and Helena Smith in Athens

 

The deadly heatwave fanning wildfires across the Mediterranean region has claimed at least three lives and forced thousands of people from their homes.

Firefighters continued to battle blazes on Tuesday and authorities braced for further damage as temperatures in some areas surged well past 40C. In Spain, a Romanian man in his 50s died after suffering 98% burns while trying to rescue horses from a burning stable near Madrid on Monday night.

A four-year-old boy who was found unconscious in his family’s car in Sardinia died in Rome on Monday after suffering irreversible brain damage caused by heatstroke. And in Montenegro, one soldier died and another was seriously injured when their water tanker overturned while fighting wildfires in the hills north of the capital, Podgorica, on Tuesday.

Scientist have warned that the heat currently affecting large parts of Europe is creating perfect conditions for wildfires and serving as another reminder of the climate emergency.

 

“Thanks to climate change, we now live in a significantly warmer world,” Akshay Deoras, a research scientist at the University of Reading’s meteorology department told Agence France-Presse, adding that “many still underestimate the danger”.

The fire in Tres Cantos, near Madrid – which had been fuelled by winds of 70km/h (45mph) and which has devoured 1,000 hectares of land – was still not under control on Tuesday evening, when further strong gusts were expected. The regional government said it had recovered 150 dead sheep and 18 dead horses from the area.

More than 3,700 people were evacuated from 16 municipalities amid dozens of reported blazes in the north-western region of Castilla y León, including one that damaged the Unesco world heritage-listed Roman-era mining site at Les Médulas.

Authorities in neighbouring Galicia said the largest wildfire of the year had burned through 3,000 hectares of land in Ourense province. In the southern town of Tarifa, firefighters on the ground and in planes battled a fire that broke out on Monday, with 2,000 people evacuated.

The blazes have led the interior ministry to declare a “pre-emergency phase” to help coordinate emergency resources.

Firefighters work to extinguish a forest fire in Lamas de Olo, in the Alvao natural park, Portugal. Photograph: Pedro Sarmento Costa/EPA

The prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, offered his condolences to the family of the man who died after the Tres Cantos fire, and thanked the emergency services for their “tireless efforts”.

He urged people to recognise the seriousness of the situation. “We’re at extreme risk of forest fires,” he said in a message on X on Tuesday. “Let’s be very careful.”

In neighbouring Portugal, firefighters were battling three large wildfires in the centre and north of the country.

Authorities in Greece requested EU help as fires, fuelled by gale force winds, ripped across vast swathes of the western Peloponnese and emergency services ordered the evacuation of thousands of residents.

Firefighters were also trying to contain blazes on the popular Ionian tourist islands of Zakynthos and Kefalonia. With gusts hampering firefighting efforts, emergency services ordered all hotels in the region of Agala and Keri on Zakynthos to temporarily close, forcing suitcase-wielding holidaymakers to flee and relocate to other areas.

A house burning during a wildfire that erupted in a forest near the village of Agalas on Zakynthos. Photograph: Costas Synetos/EPA

 

By late Tuesday, dozens of firefighters, supported by 15 fire trucks and eight water-bombing planes and helicopters, were still trying to douse the fast-moving flames.

“Everything that civil protection can offer is here but there are very strong winds and the fires are out of control,” said the island’s mayor, Giorgos Stasinopoulos. “We need a lot more air support, it’s vital.”

The fire service said it was also dealing with blazes farther north in Epirus, around Preveza and in the central region of Aetolia-Acarnania.

Despite temperatures nudging 43C in some parts of the Peloponnese region of southern Greece on Tuesday – and the prolonged drought, which has produced highly flammable conditions on tinder-dry soil – officials described the outbreak of so many fires as “suspiciously high”.

Faced with an estimated 63 blazes erupting and firefighters confronting flames on 106 fronts, fire officers dispatched specialist teams to several of the stricken regions to investigate possible arson.

In Albania, hundreds of firefighters and troops had subdued most of the nearly 40 fires that flared up in the past 24 hours, the defence ministry said, but more than a dozen were still active.

Since the start of July, nearly 34,000 hectares have been scorched nationwide, according to the European Forest Fire Information System. Police say many of the blazes were deliberate, with more than 20 people arrested.

The aftermath of the blaze in Çanakkale, Turkey, on Tuesday. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

In Croatia, about 150 firefighters spent Monday night defending homes near the port city of Split.

In the north-western Turkish province of Çanakkale, more than 2,000 people were evacuated and 77 people treated in hospital for smoke inhalation after fires broke out near the tourist village of Güzelyalı, authorities said.

Images on Turkish media showed homes and cars ablaze, while more than 760 firefighters, 10 planes, nine helicopters and more than 200 vehicles were deployed to battle the flames. Turkey this year experienced its hottest July since records began 55 years ago.

In southern France, where temperature records were broken in at least four weather stations, the government called for vigilance.

The south-western city of Bordeaux hit a record 41.6C on Monday, while all-time records were broken at meteorological stations in Bergerac, Cognac and Saint Girons, according to the national weather service, Météo France.

Agence France-Presse contributed to this report

Urban green spaces have vital role in cutting heat-related deaths, study finds

 

Abundant green space in urban areas is linked to lower rates of heat-related illness and deaths, as well as better mental health and wellbeing. Photograph: Peter Eastland/Alamy

 

Green spaces in cities play a vital role in reducing illness and deaths caused by climate breakdown, according to the most comprehensive study of its kind.

The findings of the review suggest that adding more parks, trees and greenery to urban areas could help countries tackle heat-related harms and improve public health.

The record for the world’s hottest day tumbled twice in one week earlier this year when the global average surface air temperature reached 17.15C (62.87F) breaking the record of 17.09C set days earlier.

The climate crisis is driving up global temperatures as greenhouse gas emissions released when humans burn fossil fuels warm the Earth’s atmosphere.

 

The overall beneficial effects of green spaces is well established, but until now their effects on heat-related health risks were poorly understood.

Now a review of the evidence led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine suggests that abundant green space in urban areas is linked to lower rates of heat-related illness and deaths, as well as better mental health and wellbeing.

“Urban green spaces play a vital role in mitigating heat-related health risks, offering a potential strategy for urban planning to address climate change and enhance public health,” the researchers wrote in the journal BMJ Open.

“A review of urban greenery and its effect on heat-related morbidity and mortality suggests that urban green spaces, such as parks and trees, can have a positive impact on reducing the negative health effects associated with high temperatures,” they added.

“Studies have found that areas with more green space have lower rates of heat-related morbidity and mortality compared with areas with less green space. Moreover, urban greenery can also have a positive impact on mental health and wellbeing, which can also contribute to reducing the negative health effects of high temperatures.”

In recognition of the harmful heat-related effects of climate breakdown, one of the UN’s sustainable development targets stipulates the provision of universal access to safe and accessible green and public spaces, especially for vulnerable groups, such as children, elderly people, and those living with long-term conditions, by 2030.

For the review, researchers looked at the effects of green zones on death and ill health in urban areas across the globe, drawing on relevant published research.

They included content published in English between January 2000 and December 2022, and reviewed 12 studies out of an initial haul of more than 3,000 from Hong Kong, Australia, Vietnam, the US, South Korea, Portugal and Japan.

 

These included epidemiological, modelling, and simulation studies, as well as experimental research and quantitative analyses.

The review showed that urban green spaces such as parks and trees could help offset the adverse health effects of high temperatures. Areas with more green space had lower rates of heat-related ill health and death than areas with less green space, particularly among vulnerable groups.

Access to green spaces is an example of health inequalities facing people worldwide.

A Guardian investigation revealed earlier this year that children at the top 250 private schools in England had more than 10 times as much green space as those who go to state schools.

Doctors also warned that a “truly alarming” lack of access to green space for some families was exacerbating the child obesity crisis.

 

Wildfires are burning through humanity’s carbon budget, study shows

Firefighters battling a wildfire in Corinthia, Greece, in October. Each fire has a double impact on the global climate. Photograph: Yannis Kolesidis/EPA

Forests around world being changed from carbon sinks into carbon sources, making it harder to slow global heating

Wildfires are burning through the carbon budget that humans have allocated themselves to limit global heating, a study shows.

The authors said this accelerating trend was approaching – and may have already breached – a “critical temperature threshold” after which fires cause significant shifts in tree cover and carbon storage.

“Alarmingly, the latest temperature at which, globally, these impacts become pronounced is 1.34C – close to current levels of warming [above preindustrial levels],” said the UK Met Office, which led the research.

Forests are going up in smoke in Brazil, the US, Greece, Portugal and even the Arctic Circle amid the Earth’s two hottest years in recorded history.

Each fire has a double impact on the global climate: first, by emitting carbon from the burned trees, and second, by reducing the capacity of forests to absorb carbon dioxide.

This adds to the heat in the Earth system, which has already been raised by the burning of gas, oil and coal. Global temperatures are already 1.3C higher than in the preindustrial age, according to the Met Office.

Pantanal - Brazil

Pantanal - Brazil

Amazon - Brazil

Amazon - Brazil

Amazon - Brazil

 As temperatures rise, droughts become more frequent, rainy seasons shorten and forests become more vulnerable to fire. This is made worse by human clearance of land for farms, which is particularly pronounced in South America. A separate study last week showed the continent is becoming warmer, drier, and more flammable.

Other research showed the Amazon is undergoing a “critical slowing down”, with more than a third of the rainforest struggling to recover from drought after four supposedly “one-in-a-century” dry spells in less than 20 years.

These compounding impacts, which scientists call positive feedbacks, are turning forests from carbon sinks into carbon sources.

This makes it harder to slow global heating, even before the world reaches the 1.5C lower target of the Paris climate agreement.

 

“Fires are reducing the ability of forests and other ecosystems to store carbon, narrowing our window to keep global warming in check,” said Dr Chantelle Burton, the study’s lead author.

This is not the only positive feedback that concerns scientists, who are also worried that the rapid melting of ice caps is reducing the planet’s “albedo” ability to reflect sunlight back into space.

Climatologists say the already dire situation will deteriorate until humankind, particularly in the wealthy global north, stops burning fossil fuels. 

Portugal declares a state of calamity as wildfires rage out of control

 

 

By  HELENA ALVES and JOSEPH WILSON

 

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — More than 100 wildfires stretched thousands of firefighters to the limit in northern Portugal on Wednesday, with seven deaths since the worst spate of fires in recent years spread out of control over the weekend.

Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro declared a state of calamity for the hardest-hit areas late on Tuesday, invoking powers to mobilize more firefighters and civil servants. He also called on police investigators to redouble their efforts to find those who started the fires and pledged help for those who have lost their homes or have been evacuated.

“We are well aware that these difficult hours are not over yet,” Montenegro told the nation in a televised address. “We have to continue to give everything we have and ask for help from our partners and friends so that we can reinforce the protection of our people and property.”

 The European Copernicus satellite service said that over 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) had been scorched and a combined 13 kilometers (8 miles) of fire fronts had been detected as on Tuesday night. It added that an area home to 210,000 people was exposed to the fire risk.

 

The hot, dry conditions behind the outbreaks in Portugal coincided this week with flooding in central Europe. The European Union said Wednesday that the juxtaposed extreme weather phenomena are proof of a “climate breakdown. ”

Spain’s military sent 240 soldiers and vehicles from its emergency response battalions specialized in combating fires to its neighbor.

Four water-dumping planes from France, two from Spain and two from Italy were deployed after answering an appeal to help their fellow EU member. Morocco likewise responded to a request by Portugal with two water-dumping planes that arrived on Wednesday.

“The thick smoke produced by most of these fires is making it very difficult for air units to operate,” said Civil Protection official André Fernandes. “We are still at high risk for forest fires over the next 48 hours.”

 

Thick grey smoke and the smell of burnt wood reached some 85 kilometers across the border into northwest Spain.

Montenegro made a special call for security forces to pursue both arsonists and any individuals who started a fire out of negligence. Portuguese national police said that they have arrested seven men suspected of having started wildfires in recent days. Authorities have prohibited the use of heavy farming equipment to reduce the risk of inadvertently starting a blaze.

Among the hardest hit areas is the district of Aveiro, south of the northern city of Porto, but several major blazes were also raging out of control in other wooded areas.

Authorities have yet to release figures for property damage or the number of evacuees, but Portuguese state broadcaster RTP has shown charred houses in rural villages and local residents trying to battle flames with buckets of water, hoses, and even large tree branches. Other televised images showed visibility reduced to a few meters as orange smoke enveloped the terrain. 

 

Three firefighters died in their vehicle on Tuesday, while another had succumbed to what authorities called a “sudden illness” while on duty over the weekend. Three civilians have also perished, according to civil protection authorities. Health services have attended to 10 seriously wounded people and another 49 people with minor injuries, Fernandes said.

Portugal was devasted by massive fires in 2017 that killed over 120 people.

Experts link the fires to both climate change and the abandonment of traditional farming and forestry professions that helped keep rural areas clear of underbrush that is now fuel for fires.

 Joseph Wilson wrote from Barcelona, Spain. Teresa Medrano contributed from Pontevedra, Spain.

 

 

 

Mais de 61 mil pessoas morreram de calor na Europa no verão de 2022, diz estudo...

  Levantamento publicado na Nature Medicine prevê ainda 94 mil mortes caso países europeus não tomem medidas para conter mudanças climáticas. Estação registrou recordes históricos de temperatura e queimadas no continente no ano passado. 

 Por France Presse

10/07/2023 13h31

Mais de 61 mil pessoas morreram de calor na Europa durante o verão de 2022 no Hemisfério Norte, de acordo com um estudo publicado nesta segunda-feira (10) pela revista científica Nature Medicine.

Sem medidas adequadas, o continente poderá enfrentar mais de 94 mil mortes por ondas de calor em 2040, segundo o estudo, elaborado por cientistas de um instituto de saúde francês e do Instituto de Saúde Global de Barcelona (ISGlobal). 

O verão de 2022 foi o mais quente registrado até hoje na Europa, com sucessivas ondas de calor que causaram recordes de temperatura, seca e incêndios florestais.

Os cientistas analisaram dados de temperatura e mortalidade para o período 2015-2022 em 823 regiões de 35 países europeus, com uma população total de mais de 543 milhões de pessoas. 

Com base nesses dados, construíram modelos epidemiológicos que permitem prever a mortalidade atribuível às temperaturas para cada região e semana do período de verão do ano passado, que no Hemisfério Norte é entre fim de junho e fim de setembro.

No total, a análise revela que, entre 30 de maio e 4 de setembro de 2022, ocorreram 61.672 mortes atribuíveis ao calor na Europa.

Só uma onda de calor particularmente intensa, entre 18 e 24 de julho, causou 11.637 mortes.

"É um número de mortes muito alto", disse à AFP Hicham Achebak, pesquisador do Inserm e participante do estudo.

"Já sabíamos dos efeitos do calor na mortalidade desde o precedente de 2003, mas com esta análise fica claro que ainda há muito trabalho a ser feito para proteger a população", acrescentou.

O índice de mortalidade no verão de 2003, quando a Europa sofreu uma das piores ondas de calor de sua história, ultrapassou a cifra de 70.000 mortes.

Onda de calor mata mais de 1.000 em Portugal e Espanha, e incêndios se alastram pela Europa

França, Reino Unido e Itália também sofrem com recordes de temperaturas

MADRI | REUTERS e AFP

A onda de calor que atinge há quase uma semana o sul da Europa já deixou mais de 1.000 mortos apenas em Portugal e Espanha, além de uma série de incêndios florestais, que se alastram pelo continente.

Dados da Direção-Geral de Saúde de Portugal compilados na noite de sábado (16) apontavam a morte de 659 pessoas em meio à onda de calor nos sete dias anteriores, a maioria deles idosos. O pico de mortes ocorreu na quinta-feira (14), segundo o órgão, quando as temperaturas passaram dos 40ºC na maior parte do país —com recorde de 47ºC no distrito de Viseu, 300 km ao norte de Lisboa.

No mesmo dia, o Instituto de Saúde Carlos 3º, na Espanha, apontou 360 mortes relacionadas ao calor no país. Neste domingo (17), autoridades espanholas lutavam contra 20 incêndios ainda ativos e fora de controle em diferentes pontos do país. Na Galícia, na região noroeste, o fogo destruiu cerca de 4.500 hectares durante a semana.

Em Málaga, no sul, os bombeiros conseguiram estabilizar um incêndio na serra de Mijas que destruiu pelo menos 2.000 hectares. As chamas forçaram cerca de 3.000 pessoas a sair de casa, mas a maior parte delas já conseguiu retornar. Os britânicos William e Ellen McCurdy buscaram abrigo em um centro esportivo no sábado, quando o incêndio se aproximou. "Foi muito rápido, não levei muito a sério. Achei que eles tinham tudo sob controle e fiquei bastante surpreso quando o fogo parecia estar se movendo em nossa direção", disse William, 68.

A agência meteorológica da Espanha emitiu alertas para temperaturas máximas de 42ºC neste domingo nas regiões de Aragão, Navarra e La Rioja, no norte. Segundo a entidade, a onda de calor extremo deve terminar nesta segunda-feira (18), mas as temperaturas permanecerão "anormalmente altas".

Em Portugal, cerca de 1.000 bombeiros tentavam controlar 13 incêndios florestais e rurais no centro e no norte do país, o maior deles perto da cidade de Chaves. Quase todo o território apresentava um risco "máximo", "muito alto", ou "elevado" de incêndios neste domingo. Na última semana, o fogo destruiu entre 12 mil e 15 mil hectares, segundo cálculos oficiais.

Na França, a situação é crítica. No sudoeste do país, os bombeiros continuam lutando contra dois incêndios que já devastaram em torno de 11 mil hectares desde terça-feira (12) na região de Bordeaux, uma área equivalente à da cidade de Paris, disse à AFP o engenheiro Guillaume Rozier.

Segundo a agência meteorológica Météo-France, as temperaturas podem chegar a 40ºC nessa área. No domingo, 51 departamentos estavam sob alerta laranja, e 15, sob alerta vermelho, o mais alto, devido à escalada dos termômetros. "O calor está aumentando, a onda de calor está se espalhando pelo país", advertiu a agência.

As autoridades preveem que segunda-feira (18) será o dia mais quente no oeste do país, com temperaturas que podem ultrapassar os 40ºC nas regiões da Bretanha, Baixa Normandia, Aquitânia e Occitânia ocidental.

As temperaturas também continuam altas no Reino Unido, onde as autoridades decretaram a primeira emergência nacional por calor extremo. No sul da Inglaterra, as temperaturas podem passar dos 40°C pela primeira vez na segunda ou na terça-feira (19). ​Passageiros de trens foram aconselhados a viajar apenas se for absolutamente necessário e pode haver atrasos e cancelamentos generalizados.

Diante da onda de calor, Dominic Raab, adjunto do primeiro-ministro Boris Johnson, pediu que se respeite alguns "conselhos de senso comum". "Mantenha-se hidratado, evite sol nas horas mais quentes e passe protetor solar, esse tipo de coisa", disse ele à Sky News. Ao mesmo tempo, afirmou que é preciso "aproveitar o sol", que o país é resistente o suficiente para aguentar o calor e que não há razão para fechar as escolas.

As declarações foram criticadas por profissionais de saúde e meteorologistas. "Não é um dia bonito de sol, em que você pode passar protetor solar, ir nadar, ou comer fora", disse Tracy Nicholls, diretora-executiva do College of Paramedics. "Trata-se de um calor severo que pode, de fato, provocar mortes, porque é forte demais", acrescentou. "Não estamos preparados para esse tipo de calor neste país", insistiu.

Na Itália, onde incêndios menores ocorreram nos últimos dias, os meteorologistas esperam temperaturas acima de 40°C em várias regiões nos próximos dias.