VIEW PHOTOS | 'Climate change kills': Heatwave sears Europe, fuels wildfires in France, Spain

A heat wave broiling Europe spilled northward July 18 to Britain and fueled ferocious wildfires in Spain and France, which evacuated thousands of people and scrambled water-bombing planes and firefighters to battle flames in tinder-dry forests. The heatwave is the second to engulf parts of southwest Europe in weeks, and blazes burning in France, Greece, Portugal and Spain have destroyed thousands of hectares of land and forced thousands of residents to flee.

Updated on:

19 Jul 2022, 8:28 am

2 min read

Two people were killed in the blazes in Spain that its prime minister linked to global warming, saying, “Climate change kills.” (Photo | AP)

That toll comes on top of the hundreds of heat-related deaths reported in the Iberian peninsula, as high temperatures have gripped the continent in recent days and triggered wildfires from Portugal to the Balkans. (Photo | AP)

A firefighting plane drops retardant on a forest fire in the Castellgali area of Catalonia, Spain on July 17, 2022. (Photo | AP)

In France, heat records were broken and swirling hot winds complicated firefighting in the country's southwest. (Photo | AP)

A couple stands on the Le Moulleau pier in Arcachon, southwestern France, late July 18, 2022, as a large cloud of black smoke laden with ashes coming from a giant wildfire consuming the thousand-year-old forest bordering the Dune du Pilat fills the sky. (Photo | AP)

Authorities evacuated more towns, moving another 14,900 people from areas that could find themselves in the path of the fires and choking smoke. In all, more than 31,000 people have been forced from their homes and summer vacation spots in France's Gironde region since the wildfires began July 12. (Photo | AP)

Regional records in France were broken in over a dozen towns, as the weather service said July 18 was “the hottest day of this heat wave.” A sign outside a drugstore shows the temperature of 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) during a heatwave in Paris. (Photo | AP)

A police officer givers water to a British soldier wearing a traditional bearskin hat, on guard duty outside Buckingham Palace, during hot weather in London. (Photo | AP)