Europe is boiling through a ‘heat apocalypse’ today with all-time temperature records set to be smashed in France while Spain battles dozens of wildfires that have left one firefighter dead.
Extreme heat warnings are in place across the continent’s western flank today, with figures in excess of 104F (40C) predicted all the way from Faro in southern Portugal up to Manchester in the UK.
All-time records are set to tumble across much of western France with 111F (44C) possible near Bordeaux in what forecasters have branded a ‘heat apocalypse’.
The extreme conditions have sparked dozens of fires, with crews battling two ‘monster’ blazes in Gironde which have forced 19,500 people to evacuate and torched 14,000 acres since they began a week ago.
David Brunner, the commander of local firefighters who has worked in the region for more than three decades, said he has ‘never seen anything like it.’
Some relief will come later today when a sudden easterly wind – known as a Galerne – will sweep on-shore, causing temperatures to plunge by 20C in just one hour between 5pm and 6pm local time. However, strong winds are likely to whip up the wildfire and produce more havoc for rescue crews.
Across the border in Spain, 36 fires were raging today – two dozen of them out of control – one of which claimed the life of a 62-year-old firefighter on Sunday, burned to death around 60 miles south of Leon after being trapped by flames. Another man, a 69-year-old shepherd, has also been found dead in the same region.
More than 1,000 people have died across Spain and Portugal in the heatwave, medical authorities have said, most of whom are thought to have perished from heat stress.
Firefighters in Gironde, south-western France, are battling a ‘monster’ blaze which has already ripped through 14,000 acres and is set to intensify today as temperatures hit 44C in the region
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‘There are never words to thank the immense work of those who fight in front of the fire without rest,’ Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez tweeted as news of the death spread.
Two thirds of the country’s entire fire-fighting force are now deployed to try and contain the blazes, with some 2,300 people evacuated from their homes.
Temperatures across the Iberian peninsula are broadly in excess of 104F with the hottest regions seeing 110F on Sunday. The heat is expected to continue through the early part of the week.
Almost the entirety of Spain is now under an ‘extreme danger’ of fire warning, according to the EU’s emergency management programme, with large parts of southern and central regions under the highest ‘very extreme danger’ warnings that also encompass parts of eastern Portugal.
Portuguese authorities are also battling wildfires in their country, though the situation has eased since temperatures topped 117F (47C) last week.
Four wildfires are raging in Portugal today with 700 firefighters deployed to dampen them down, though that is down from 16 that were burning late Sunday.
A nationwide state of emergency is due to last until Tuesday, when parliament will assess whether it needs to be extended. As things stand, it is likely the measures will be lifted.
The heatwave is the second to engulf parts of southwest Europe in weeks, and blazes burning in France, Greece, Portugal and Spain have destroyed thousands of hectares of land and forced thousands of residents and holidaymakers to flee.
France will send three additional water-bombing planes to Gironde today to join six others already in action as they try to save towns from being consumed, with 3,500 more people evacuated from their homes today.
A Spanish firefighter weeps in the Losacio region after one of his colleagues was killed fighting a wildfire, which can be seen raging behind him with smoke pouring into the sky
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More than 200 reinforcements were also being added to the 1,500-strong force of firefighters battling night and day to contain the blazes, the French interior ministry added.
Video: Deadly heatwave, wildfires raging across Europe (NBC News)
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Scientists blame climate change and predict more frequent and intense episodes of extreme weather such as heatwaves and drought.
France’s interior ministry announced it would send an extra three firefighting planes, 200 firefighters and more trucks.
‘In some southwestern areas, it will be a heat apocalypse,’ meteorologist Francois Gourand told AFP.
The chapel of a historic hospital in the southeastern city of Lyon, Grand Hotel Dieu, offered refuge to tourists on Sunday including Jean-Marc, 51, who was visiting from Alsace.
‘We came back to admire the place, but we can’t leave, it’s too hot outside. We say a prayer before the fire!’ he quipped.
French cyclist Mikael Cherel, taking part in the Tour de France’s 15th stage between Rodez and Carcassonne in southern France on Sunday, described ‘very, very difficult conditions’.
‘I’ve never known such a hot day on a bike. It really was no picnic.’
In Spain, firefighters managed to stabilise a wildfire that ravaged 2,000 hectares of woods and bushes in the southern region of Andalusia, regional leader Juan Manuel Moreno said.
The blaze started on Friday in the Mijas mountain range inland from the southern coastal city of Malaga and it spurred the evacuation of about 3,000 people.
Around 2,000 people had since returned home and now that the blaze has stabilised, Moreno said the remaining evacuees may do the same.
Tactical firefighters set a fire to a plot of land to prevent the fire from spreading as the winds change in Louchats, south-western France, where temperature records could be broken today
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Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is due to visit the hard-hit eastern region of Extremadura on Monday where various fires have been raging for days.
In Portugal, almost the entire country remained on high alert for wildfires despite a slight drop in temperatures, after hitting 47C – a record for the month of July – on Thursday.
Only one major fire was burning on Sunday in the north.
The fires have killed two, injured around 60 and destroyed between 12,000 and 15,000 hectares of land in Portugal.
In the United Kingdom, the weather office issued a first-ever ‘red’ warning for extreme heat, cautioning there was a ‘risk to life’.
The Met Office said temperatures in southern England could exceed 40C on Monday or Tuesday for the first time, leading some schools to say they would stay closed next week.
The mercury is set to reach 38C in parts of the Netherlands on Tuesday.