The fires have ravaged small, sparsely populated towns in the country's northwest, forcing locals in many cases to act as firefighters. About 2,382 square miles have burned across Spain and Portugal.

Every summer, forest fires sweep across Spain, dominating headlines and leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. This year's have been especially harsh, with devastating fires thus far in Tarifa,

Joaquín Ramírez of Technosylva, a Spanish company that specialises in prevention and response to wildfires, attributed this year’s litany of fires to “a combination of abandonment of rural areas, abandonment of managing [the land] and the stress exerted on our forest areas”.

Spain continues to battle major wildfires on Sunday, especially in the north-western Galicia region where blazes have torn through parched forests for more than a week.

The key to preventing forest fires is creating a rural economy based on the use of forests. While this would generate much-needed employment in “la España vaciada” – “hollowed-out Spain”, the name given to the country’s depopulated rural areas – it also costs money. It is therefore essential to invest in forests.

A heatwave is continuing to affect the Iberian Peninsula. Thousands of firefighters have been deployed to battle ongoing blazes and towns have been evacuated. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited affected regions to meet with the heads of emergency teams.

Spain's worst wave of wildfires on record spread to the southern slopes of the Picos de Europa mountains on Monday (Aug 18) and prompted authorities to close part of the popular C

Spain's worst wave of wildfires on record spread to the southern slopes of the Picos de Europa mountains on Monday and prompted authorities to close part of the popular Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route.