Spain PM calls wildfires ‘a calamity,’ announces civil protection emergency

Madrid: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced that his government will declare a civil protection emergency as wildfires continue to devastate vast regions of the country.

The announcement was made on Tuesday during his visit to a firefighting command post in Caceres, southwest Spain, one of the areas worst affected along with the northwestern regions of Galicia and Castilla-Leon.

Describing the situation as “a calamity,” Sanchez assured full government backing, including compensation for individuals and families who have suffered losses in the fires.

According to the European Forest Fire Information System, more than 382,000 hectares have burned in Spain so far in 2025, with over 300,000 hectares destroyed in the past two weeks alone.

Regional emergency services confirmed that four people have lost their lives this month, while more than 30,000 residents have been evacuated from their homes.

Sanchez also highlighted the urgent need to address climate change, which he identified as the root cause of the escalating crisis.

"We cannot limit ourselves to reacting when fires start. We must prepare the ground so that when they break out, the damage is reduced," he said.

Global warming is driving longer, more intense and more frequent heatwaves around the world. By lowering humidity in the air, vegetation and soil, and reducing the threshold at which materials ignite, heatwaves turn vegetation into highly flammable fuel and make wildfires even harder to control.

While the phenomenon has fuelled fires across southern Europe this summer, Spain has been hit particularly hard, finally getting some respite on Tuesday.

IANS