At least 19,000 people were evacuated in the Madrid region, where the "biggest fire" in the history of the region is raging. It has already devastated 6,000 hectares, announced Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the president of the Madrid regional government, BTA reported.
"This is a catastrophe for such a region with a high population and housing density. "We have never seen anything like this," Ayuso said during a press conference at a relief coordination center, stressing that "the main priority at this stage is saving lives."
Meanwhile, the huge fire that broke out in the province of Guadalajara, which covered more than 32,000 hectares and remained active for more than a week, has subsided and the army has withdrawn from the area, although officially the fire has neither been extinguished nor stabilized.
The forest fire in Guadalajara, considered the largest of the year, has been downgraded to level one, said Emiliano García-Paje, the head of the autonomous region of Castilla-La Mancha.
However, more than 200 firefighters remain on standby, as well as nearly 20 fire engines and two firefighting aircraft.
Emergency services reported that two of the The three fires that have already devastated 6,000 hectares west of Madrid have merged. The forest fire near the town of San Martín de Valdeiglesias and Villa del Prado has thus merged into "a single outbreak".
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that Spain and its neighboring countries are experiencing a "dramatic situation" due to the devastating fires that broke out simultaneously about 50 kilometers from Madrid at the height of the heat wave.
"The fires are devastating thousands of hectares and affecting many towns and villages," Sanchez wrote in Aix this morning, again urging residents of the affected areas to follow the instructions of the authorities and emergency services.
Amid the raging fires, Spain declared a state of emergency in the area around the capital Madrid and the province of Ávila, where 1,500 residents were evacuated. Spanish broadcaster RTE reported that a state of emergency had been declared in the area for the first time due to the forest fires.
The European Union has sent four firefighting aircraft to combat the fires in Spain, in addition to the three that left for France yesterday, the European Commission (EC) announced today.
"We are preparing for a difficult situation", said EC spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen.
The forest fire that had been threatening the resort town of Biscarrosse in the Landes department in France since yesterday had devastated 2,600 hectares by noon today and damaged 105 buildings and homes that were "affected or even completely destroyed", prefect Gilles Clavruel announced.
He added that in view of the approaching fire, 18,000 residents of the resort and another 5,000 tourists in a camping area near Paranti were were evacuated.
"There are currently 32 active forest fires, which, of course, are not raging with the same intensity", said French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez.
"We have passed the level of 50,000 hectares of area burned by fires since January 1 of this year. If you compare this indicator with the data from last year, you will find that the devastated area is three times larger", stressed Nunez.
The minister added that the fire, which threatens the popular tourist destination of the Cap Ferret peninsula, has already burned more than 10,000 hectares, stressing that this "is the biggest fire of the season". Nunez specified that an operation is currently underway to evacuate 40,000 people from the area, and that a total of 80 houses have been destroyed.