Fari Bradley (@faribrad.bsky.social)

Infernos devastate forests as Europe's temperatures rise Hundreds of firefighters are battling forest infernos in France, Spain and Portugal as temperatures rose again in heatwave-scarred Europe. The latest wildfires have already devastated more than 42,000 acres of land - twice the size of Manhattan - across the three countries where temperatures in some places were predicted to touch 40C today. Authorities registered thousands of excess deaths during one of Europe's worst heatwaves in June, and with more extreme weather on the way, France's Interior Minister Laurent Nunez has already expressed concern that the annual summer wildfire season had started a month early. A fire near Spain's northeastern Costa Brava coast burned more than 5,400 acres in two days and firefighters said their operation today would be "complicated" by rising temperatures and the many "smoking hotspots" within the fire's perimeter. Firefighters "worked tirelessly throughout the night to consolidate the perimeter of the La Bisbal d'Empordà forest fire, which is now stabilised," said a Catalunya fire service statement. Catalunya regional government president Salvador Illa said that a man had been detained in connection with the fire which has badly hit the Gavarres protected natural area between Barcelona and the French border. Nearly 600 French firefighters have been mobilised to... https://www.rte.ie/news/europe/2026/0705/1581861-fires-europe-heatwave/