Europe: As boiling heat continued for the fifth day in a row in southwest Europe on Friday, wildfire evacuation ruined the holidays of thousands of people. As Britain prepared for "extreme heat" in the coming days and even Irish forecasters predicted a taste of Mediterranean-style summer temperatures. armies of firefighters in France, Portugal and Spain are battling to the fire.
French President Emmanuel Macron pledged that officials would do everything raise resources to fight the fallout.
Scientists have attributed a second week in a row to climate change fires engulfing large parts of southwest Europe and predicting more frequent and severe episodes of extreme weather.
Five regions in the north and center of Portugal, where Thursday's temperature hit a July record of 47 °C (116.6 °F), were once again on red alert as more than 2,000 firefighters battled four critical fires.
The pilot of a plane fighting a forest fire in the Bragança region of northern Portugal died in a crash on Friday. Till late Thursday evening, one person had died and around 60 were injured due to the fire. Officials said some 900 people had been evacuated and several dozen homes were damaged or destroyed.
This year, wildfires have destroyed 30,000 hectares (75,000 acres) of land, the largest area in Portugal since the scorching summer 2017 that claimed nearly 100 lives.
A fire that broke out on Thursday near Monfrag National Park, a protected area for wildlife in the Extremadura region, continued to burn in neighboring Spain, with temperatures reaching 37 degrees as of 7 a.m.
According to Spanish officials, about 20 wildfires were still raging, including one in the south near Mijas, inland from the region's capital Málaga, forcing some 2,300 people to leave their homes.
In a tweet, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he was "closely following the development of active fires" that posed "extreme risk".
The temperature in Spain rose to 45.4 degrees on Thursday, from a record-breaking 47.4 degrees in August last year.
Flames in southwest France have forced the evacuation of 11,000 people since Tuesday, including many tourists who opted to end their vacation rather than stay in improvised shelters set up by local authorities. The flames have destroyed nearly 7,700 hectares of land since Tuesday.
With 16 departments already painted orange, a dire alert, southern France, already dealing with temperatures of around 40 degrees on Friday, is preparing for even more heat next week.
One person was found dead in a wildfire in the Mediterranean in northern Morocco, officials said. Additionally, hundreds of people were evacuated by authorities from more than a dozen villages in northwestern Morocco.A fire broke out near Dune du Pilat in France, the highest sand dune in Europe and a popular tourist destination.
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