The key to preventing forest fires is creating a rural economy based on the use of forests. While this would generate much-needed employment in “la España vaciada” – “hollowed-out Spain”, the name given to the country’s depopulated rural areas – it also costs money. It is therefore essential to invest in forests.

Illuminated by flames, Spanish firefighters battle wildfires that have been raging throughout the country's west and northwest for over a week. The bulk of the devastation -- with 373,000 hectares burnt -- has taken place in the northwestern provinces of Zamora and Leon,

Spain's weather agency warned the public on Monday to be "cautious" of the "very high or extreme fire danger."

It also exceeds the area burned in 2023 - 91,220 hectares in 371 fires - and far exceeds the figures recorded in 2022, until now considered the worst year in terms of area burned by forest fires in the country: 306,555 hectares in 493 fires.

Wildfires are continuing in several parts of Europe, with Spain and Portugal being the worst-affected countries. Thousands of firefighters supported by soldiers and water-bombing aircraft battled over 20 major wildfires across western Spain on Monday.

A heatwave is continuing to affect the Iberian Peninsula. Thousands of firefighters have been deployed to battle ongoing blazes and towns have been evacuated. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited affected regions to meet with the heads of emergency teams.

Spain's worst wave of wildfires on record spread to the southern slopes of the Picos de Europa mountains on Monday and prompted authorities to close part of the popular Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route.

Spain's worst wave of wildfires in at least two decades spread to the southern slopes of the Picos de Europa mountain range on Monday and prompted authorities to close part of the popular Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route.