By: Ryan Guo
Over 16,000 people have been evacuated in France due to multiple wildfires, and wildfires have also hit Spain, Croatia, and Greece.
In Spain, over 3,200 people fled fires in the Mijas hills, though some people returned after the fires were extinguished. Luckily, Portugal’s fires have been contained, but there have been over 1,000 casualties caused by the extreme heat.
The Mijas fires in Spain were close to Malaga, a popular tourist area and a city famous for its music. Elsewhere in Spain, wildfires have broken out in Castilla y Leon, Galicia and Extremadura.
“We just grabbed a few essentials and just ran really, and by that stage everybody along the street was on the move… there were a lot of ambulances and fire engines.” a citizen living in the Malaga area said to Reuters.
The entire Mediterranean deployed thousands of firefighters and water-bombing aircraft to stop wildfires. Ever since last Tuesday, the entire Mediterranean region has been extremely hot, with crops dying due to the heat.
Ever since the Industrial Era in the 1700’s, Earth’s temperature has increased by 1.1 degrees Celsius, and will continue to rise until governments stop carbon emissions. Due to climate change, heatwaves have become more frequent and intense.
In France, the weather has been a high of 41C. In Portugal, weather has been 47C, while in the UK, weather has been a high of 41C.
Dr Eunice Lo, a scientist at Bristol University, said to the BBC that “rising temperatures are a signature of climate change” and that heatwaves have caused 2,000 extra deaths in the UK.
On Saturday, France told its firefighter departments to be on high alert. One resident in south-west France described forest fires as “post-apocalyptic”. Fires have burned 10,500 hectares (26,000 acres) of land while Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin praised firefighters for their “remarkable courage”.
“Everything went so fast – the fire too, was big, big, big,” Manon Jacquart, a citizen, 27, told the BBC. “I’m just worried, I’m afraid… I’m trying to be as strong as I can but I’m not ok… I want to forget this week.”
Heatwaves put the public at greater risk of heatstroke, heat exhaustion and drowning, as people rush to cool off, Dr Lo said. Pets and farm animals are also vulnerable.
“Even fit and healthy people are at risk,” she said, although the people that are most vulnerable are young babies and old people. Extreme heat can also damage infrastructure, as it has been melting road tarmac and buckling railway lines.
Sources: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62196045