Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez described the next twelve hours as "decisive" in the fight against the fires ravaging several regions of Europe, as expected temperatures of around 40 degrees threaten to jeopardize the progress already made.
Authorities fear that the progress made in controlling the fires in the Gironde region and the Madrid area could be wiped out by a new heatwave. Temperatures could reach nearly 40 degrees Celsius in several affected areas, making the firefighters' work even more perilous.
The European Union's crisis management cell anticipates difficult weeks ahead, with an increased risk of new fires breaking out in Italy and Greece as summer progresses.
Faced with this situation, intervention methods are being questioned. "A firefighter will focus on protecting people. They will focus on protecting homes, businesses, and companies, because that's what matters to our entire society. And sometimes, by focusing on that, they can't extinguish the fire the way they would if it were just a forest. This is new, it's worrying. And of course, it means we have to adapt our firefighting methods," said a European official.
This tension between protecting populations and extinguishing fires illustrates a growing challenge for the continent's emergency services, which are facing increasingly frequent and intense heatwave episodes.
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