Deadly wildfires rage across Spain

File: Fire incident

Thousands of firefighters backed by soldiers and water-bombing aircraft on Monday battled over 20 major wildfires raging across western Spain, where officials say a record area of land has already been burnt.

Spain and neighbouring Portugal have been particularly affected by forest fires fuelled by heatwaves and drought, blamed on climate change, that have hit southern Europe.

Two firefighters were killed on Sunday — one in each country, both in road accidents — taking the death toll to two in Portugal and four in Spain.

Spain’s civil protection chief, Virginia Barcones told public television TVE that 23 blazes were classified as “operational level two”, meaning they pose a direct threat to nearby communities.

The fires, now entering their second week, are concentrated in the western regions of Castile and Leon, Galicia and Extremadura, where thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes.

Residents said they were frustrated with what they regarded as poor preparation and limited resources.

“No one’s shown up here, nobody,” Patricia Vila, 42, told AFPTV in the village of Vilamartin de Valdeorras in Ourense province of Galicia.

“Not a single damn helicopter, not one plane, has come to drop water and cool things down a bit.”

Signs of the fires were everywhere in the province, from ashen forests and blackened soil to destroyed homes, with thick smoke forcing people to wear masks.

Firefighters battled the flames as locals in just shorts and T-shirts used water from hoses and buckets to try to stop the spread.

More than 343,000 hectares (848,000 acres) of land — the equivalent of nearly half a million football pitches — have been destroyed this year in Spain, setting a new national record, according to the European Forest Fire Information System.