By Charlie Devereux and Ana Cantero
MADRID (Reuters) -Spain battled against 14 major fires on Friday as authorities warned of “unfavourable conditions” to tackle fires that have already killed seven people and burned more than 150,000 hectares (579 square miles).
A 12-day heatwave and southerly winds meant firefighters were facing another challenging day in one of the worst summers for fires in the past 20 years, said Virginia Barcones, director general of emergency services.
“In the western part of the country the situation is extremely worrying,” Barcones said on RTVE.
In Galicia, several fronts had joined together to form an even bigger blaze forcing the closure of highways and rail services to the region.
The national weather agency AEMET warned of extreme fire risk in the north and west of the country, as temperatures expected to reach as high as 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) on the north coast were set to add fuel to the flames.
“Today will be another very difficult day, with an extreme risk of new fires,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on X.
Firefighters have been battling to put out wildfires across southern Europe, with the flames stoked by the extended heat wave gripping the region.
Avincis, the largest operator of emergency aerial services in Spain and Europe, said it had registered a 50% increase from last year in flight hours dedicated to firefighting operations in Spain and Portugal so far this season.
A fire near Molezuelas de la Carbellada in the Castile and Leon region that was one of the largest in Spain’s history hadn’t advanced since Thursday, said Angel Sanchez, head of the region’s forest fire service.
“We will continue working to stabilise it,” he said.
(Reporting by Charlie Devereux and Ana Cantero; Editing by Toby Chopra)
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