A heat wave broiling Europe spilled northward on Monday (local time) to Britain and fuelled ferocious wildfires in Spain and France.
Thousands of people were evacuated from homes, as water-bombing planes and firefighters battled flames in tinder-dry forests.
Almost half of the European Union is at risk of drought, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre has warned. In France and Spain, deadly wildfires amid an “apocalypse” of extreme temperatures has been blamed on climate change.
Strong winds and hot, dry weather are frustrating French firefighters’ efforts to contain a huge wildfire that raced across pine forests in the Bordeaux region on Saturday for a fifth straight day, one of several scorching Europe in recent days.
Matt Dunham/AP
People sit covering their heads from the sun after a scaled down version of the Changing of the Guard ceremony took place outside Buckingham Palace, during hot weather in London on Monday.
Emilio Fraile/AP
A resident looks as flames advance during a wildfire in Pumarejo de Tera in north-western Spain on Monday.
Matt Dunham/AP
A police officer givers water to a British soldier wearing a traditional bearskin hat, on guard duty outside Buckingham Palace, during hot weather in London.
This photo provided by the fire brigade of the Gironde region (SDIS 33) shows firefighters working against a wildfire near Landiras, southwestern France, Saturday July 16, 2022. Firefighters are struggling to contain wildfires in France and Spain as Europe wilts under an unusually extreme heat wave that authorities link to a rise in excess mortality. (SDIS 33 via AP)
Lorena Sopena/AP
A firefighting plane drops retardant on a forest fire in the Castellgali area of Catalonia, Spain on Sunday.
This photo shows a wildfire near Landiras, southwestern France on Saturday July 16, 2022.
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