Blazes force residents and holidaymakers to flee to safety as a heatwave grips the continent, fuelling wildfires and triggering heat alerts.
Tuesday 12 August 2025 16:26, UK
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Thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes as deadly wildfires continue to burn across southern Europe amid a record-breaking heatwave.
Firefighters worked through the night to contain a blaze which broke out near Madrid in Spain.
A man caught in the fire in Tres Cantos, near the Spanish capital, died in hospital after suffering 98% burns.
Blazes also erupted across several Spanish regions, including Castile and Leon, Castile-La Mancha, Andalusia and Galicia.
Spain’s interior ministry declared a “pre-emergency”, putting national services on standby to support firefighters. Almost 1,000 members of the country’s armed forces are already helping.
Temperatures are expected to reach 44C (112.2F) in some parts of the country, according to forecasters.
In Portugal, more than 700 firefighters were working to control a fire in Trancoso, about 217 miles northeast of Lisbon.
Smaller fires were burning further north of the country.
“We are being cooked alive, this cannot continue,” said Vila Real mayor Alexandre Favaios. A fire in the Portuguese city has been burning for 10 days.
Firefighters were also battling several wildfires across Turkey on Tuesday, including in the northwestern province of Canakkale, forcing hundreds of residents to flee their homes.
Blazes forced the temporary closure of Canakkale Airport, and also the Dardanelles Strait to shipping.
By Jo Wheeler, weather presenter
It’s hot over Europe at the moment thanks to a heat dome; a high pressure system which acts like a pan lid, preventing cooler air masses moving in and causing temperatures to rise as air is forced down and compressed.
So Iberia and France have seen daytime highs well above average.
At the same time, we have high pressure to the east of the country (clockwise winds), and low pressure to the south-west (anticlockwise winds).
Combined they’re creating a strong draw of air from the South.
And whilst we won’t see the dizzy heights of 40C here, we are seeing temperatures topping 30C.
Now, a heatwave is defined in different regions at different temperatures across the UK and Ireland but it seems likely that quite an extensive part of England and Wales will be experiencing a heatwave over the next couple of days.
And not for the first time this summer! And even though it becomes less hot in the UK through the coming week, we won’t be reaching for the thermals either.
Temperatures will remain above average into the weekend and beyond.
Long range forecasts are somewhat unreliable when we are not seeing any major drivers in force (El Nino, La Nina, North Atlantic Oscillation to name a few).
But the Met Office is leaning towards a more settled weather picture for the rest of the month for the UK.
That’s not to say there won’t be any rain, but little sign of anything significant.
Above all, we can probably rely on the British weather to deliver a surprise when we least expect it!
Wildfires in Greece forced the evacuation of several villages and a hotel on the tourist islands of Zakynthos and Cephalonia in the Ionian Sea, along with four other parts of the mainland.
“Winds are strong and the wildfire is out of control,” Zakynthos mayor Yiorgos Stasinopoulos told Greek public broadcaster ERT.
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Red and amber heat alerts have been issued in Italy and France.
Temperature records were broken on Monday in southern France, reaching 41.6C in Bordeaux compared with a previous record of 41.2C in 2019.
All-time records were also broken in Bergerac, Cognac and Saint Girons, according to the national weather service, Meteo France.
Global warming is giving the Mediterranean region hotter, drier summers, scientists say.
Europe is warming faster than any other continent, with temperatures increasing at twice the speed of the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Last year was the hottest year on record in Europe and globally, the monitoring agency said.<\/p>\n