Because of heat waves, forest fires are raging in European countries and Turkey

Forest fires are ravaging parts of the European continent due to heat waves, with fires raging in Portugal, Spain, southern France and Turkey, and French authorities said on Friday that hundreds of their homes were evacuated as the out-of-control wildfires continued to rage in the southwest of the country.

More than 1,000 firefighters, backed by nine water-spraying planes, have been battling since Tuesday to control two fires fanned by intense heat and strong winds.

❗️ The #EUCivilProtection Mechanism continues to channel support to help combat severe forest fires in Portugal 🇵🇹, France 🇫🇷 and Albania 🇦🇱.

A thread.

👇

📷@DPCgov pic.twitter.com/b8dTDx4xPW

— EU Civil Protection & Humanitarian Aid 🇪🇺 (@eu_echo) July 15, 2022

For its part, the Civil Defense authorities in Portugal reported the continuation of the wave of forest fires that swept the country last week, as it reported today, Friday, the outbreak of 13 major fires and dozens of small fires.

The latest civil defense reports said that 860 people were evacuated, adding that the fires destroyed or damaged 60 homes.

The Portuguese authorities said that the drought and high temperatures that have continued in the country for months led to an increase in the fires that started last Saturday.

Severe heat wave sparks wildfires in Europe (Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Spain also suffered temperatures soaring above 40 degrees, and the most severe fire destroyed at least 4,000 hectares in a mountainous region stretching across Extremadura, Castile and Leon near Portugal.

More than 400 people were evacuated on Tuesday because of the 8,600-acre fires in western Spain.

Fire breaks out in south of Spain @IrishTimes pic.twitter.com/eu3zGzm3su

— Neil Brennan (@NeiltBrennan) July 15, 2022

Smaller fires have occurred in Italy and Croatia, according to the European Copernican system.

In Turkey, the Dacha authorities in the western state of Mugla are continuing their efforts to control the fire that broke out on Wednesday, using dozens of planes, helicopters, fire engines and vehicles.

Turkey continues efforts to extinguish the Mugla state fire with dozens of aircraft and vehicles (Anatolia)

The firefighting teams were able to prevent the fire from reaching residential areas, through the measures they took, which consisted of intensifying firefighting vehicles and mechanisms around these areas.