The fires have ravaged small, sparsely populated towns in the country's northwest, forcing locals in many cases to act as firefighters. About 2,382 square miles have burned across Spain and Portugal.

Spain recently made EU history when it made its first request ever for wildfire response reinforcements from the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism. In response to Spain’s activation, the European Commission has mobilized two rescEU planes stationed in France, with the expectation of deploying to Spain on Aug. 14.

Cooler conditions are helping Spanish and Portuguese firefighters tackle deadly blazes that have forced tens of thousands of people to flee over the past two weeks.

So far, sparsely populated areas have been hardest hit, but thousands of residents have already been evacuated.

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.

A second volunteer firefighter has died after battling a wildfire in the northern Spanish province of Leon, while police arrested a man for allegedly starting a separate blaze as the country faced one of its worst summers for fires in 20 years.

Fires in Galicia have ravaged small, sparsely populated towns, forcing locals in many cases to step in before firefighters arrive. Firefighting units from Germany arrived in northern Spain on Tuesday to help fight the blazes, Spain's Interior Ministry ...

King Felipe of Spain was forced to cut his summer vacation short this week to deal with a national emergency back at home.

Wildfires raging in northern and western Spain have burned through nearly the same area in the past 24 hours as in all of last year, although the end of a 16-day heatwave and expected rainfall have fanned hopes that an end may be in sight.

This combination has resulted in the most severe wave of summer wildfires Spain has seen since 1994, when 437,602 hectares burned, according to data from the Ministry of the Environment. The European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), part of the EU ...