Rescuers are racing against time in Spain and Italy to provide relief to thousands of people affected, but ironically, while Spaniards are struggling to put out the fires that have ravaged large areas, their Italian counterparts are struggling to avert disaster due to flooding in parts of the northeast.

Spanish and Portuguese firefighters battling a fire in Spain's Extremadura region (west) are making progress towards containing it, Spanish authorities said, after the flames forced hundreds of people to evacuate a number of villages.

Civil defence coordinator Nevis Viar said "we hope to deal a big blow today" on Saturday to the fire. "There are a lot of resources on the ground and the work we are doing is very intensive," she said, noting that winds were weak in the area.

Speaking from the Pinofrankiado area near the burning forest, Viar said: "It's a fire that has been better cordoned," but stressed that "we are still far from being controlled."

Authorities say the disaster was caused by an arson fire, and the coordinator said firefighters from Portugal had joined their Spanish colleagues, and said there were "more than 600 participants" in the operations to put out the blaze.

A Spanish firefighter puts out a fire in the western region of Extremadura (Reuters)

The disaster extends over an area of about 3,500 hectares of forest and wooded areas, and about 700 people have been evacuated from several villages, according to local authorities.

Data from the European Copernicus satellite showed that about 12,<> hectares were damaged by the fire in various parts of Cathiras province.

The regional government's agriculture ministry said 14 firefighting aircraft were involved in putting out the flames.

2022 was a bad year for Europe, especially in terms of forest fires, and Spain was the hardest hit on the continent, with about 500 fires destroying more than 300,<> hectares of land areas, according to the European Forest Fire Information System.

Scientists say human-induced climate change is making extreme weather events, such as heat waves and droughts, more frequent and intense.

Floods and collapses

Meanwhile, more than 36,<> Italians have been forced from their homes by flooding in the northeast of the country, where rising water levels have inundated homes and landslides have isolated small villages, regional officials said Saturday.

Heavy rains earlier this week killed 14 people and turned streets in cities and towns in the Emilia-Romagna region into rivers.

With more rain, regional authorities have extended the state of high alert until Sunday.


Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Saturday she would leave the Group of Seven summit in Japan early to oversee the handling of the emergency situation.

"I can't stay away from Italy in such a complicated situation," Meloni told reporters, thanking the 5,<> rescuers and volunteers who helped those affected by the floods.

She also thanked the leaders of the Group of Seven countries for the offers of assistance.

Ravenna-Romagna authorities on Saturday ordered the immediate evacuation of more small villages at risk.

Meanwhile, a helicopter crashed near the city of Lugo while taking part in attempts to restore power on Saturday, injuring one of the four people in the boat, the Civil Defence said.

In just 36 hours, there was rainfall normally recorded in 6 months in the Emilia-Romagna region, and the floods were described as the worst in the country in a century. The floods caused more than 305 landslides, and damaged or blocked more than 500 roads in the area.

Bologna Mayor Matteo Lebor said on Saturday that repairing roads and infrastructure would take "months, maybe years in some places".