Fires in Spain affect the Camino de Santiago route and spread through the mountains

The worst wave of forest fires of Spain in at least two decades spread through the slopes of the peaks of Europe on Monday and led the authorities to close part of the popular pilgrimage route of Santiago.

“This is a fire situation that we have not experienced for 20 years,” said Defense Minister Margarita Robles in Cadena Ser.

“Fires have special characteristics due to climate change and this enormous heat wave”, which extends for 16 days, added, referring to one of the longest heat waves of the last 50 years, which has increased the temperatures at 45 degrees Celsius during the weekend.

It is expected to start decreasing on Monday evening or Tuesday.

Southern Europe is undergoing one of the worst seasons of forest fires in the last two decades and Spain and nearby Portugal have been among the most affected countries.

So far, this year, about 344,400 hectares have been burned in Spain, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (Effis), the largest area in its registers dating back to 2006 and more than four times the average of 2006-2024.

Robles said that the dense smoke was hindering the work of water bombing planes.

The Spanish army sent 1,900 soldiers to help the firefighters.

Only last week, about 20 forest fires devastated thousands of hectares in the regions of Galicia, Castile and Lion, forcing the authorities to stop the railway services in the area, as well as a stretch of 50 km of the “Camino de Santiago”, an old pilgrimage route traveled by thousands of people in the summer.

Connect France with the city of Santiago de Compostela, in the far west of Spain, where the remains of the apostle St. James are said to be buried.

“Terrible thing”

Patrice Lepetre, a 75 -year -old pilgrim in Astorga, told Reuters that the discomfort for tourists was temporary and could not be compared to the situation of local residents.

“It is a terrible thing for the population. Pilgrims can go home and come another year to finish, but for people who live here, it is a terrible thing,” he said.

A firefighter died when his truck hit near the spinal village of the consortium, increasing the victim’s budget.

In Portugal, the forest fires have burned around 216,200 hectares so far this year, according to the 2006-2024 average of four times, for this period and two people died.

Source: Terra

Rose

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