AFPA burned down forest in the Colera region, close to the Spanish-French border
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 14:53
Thousands of hectares of forest were destroyed by fires in Spain and Portugal this weekend, the DPA news agency reports. In western Portugal, 6,200 hectares had burned this morning, according to authorities.
The forest fires in Portugal are particularly raging in the vicinity of Castelo Branco and Proença-a-Nova. More than 1100 firefighters and at least eleven firefighting aircraft fought the flames there yesterday.
Authorities say six people were injured. Several villages threatened by the fire have been evacuated. A curfew has been imposed in other villages.
Spain and Greece
In Spain, firefighters managed to contain a forest fire near Portbou, in the northeastern region of Catalonia. The fire destroyed 573 hectares there.
The risk of forest fires is also still high in Greece, such as in the regions of Attica, Thessaly, the Peloponnese, Central Greece and Crete. Last month, the island of Rhodes was ravaged by forest fires for almost two weeks. Thousands of people had to be evacuated during the peak tourist season.
Tourism in Rhodes is picking up
The Greek island fears the impact of the forest fires on tourism, which is vital to Rhodes’s economy. Booking platform HotelPlanner previously warned that record temperatures in southern Europe will continue this month. According to the platform, it is safer to holiday in Northern Europe.
On Rhodes, tourism is slowly starting to pick up again, the head of the hotel industry on the island tells the AP news agency. Travel organization TUI is now offering trips to Rhodes again. “It would do even more damage to the inhabitants if no more tourists came,” said TUI boss Ebel. This week, Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis offered vacationers affected by the fires a free vacation week in the fall.
The forest fires in southern Europe are related to the extreme heat. In the Portuguese region of Castelo Branco it will be between 35 and 40 degrees today.
2023-08-06 12:53:50
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