Spanish climate expert Ruben del Campo warned on Friday that the wildfire threat is likely to persist throughout August, with temperatures expected to remain high and weather conditions continuing to favor large fires.

"Some studies show that Western Europe – including the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal – is warming faster than many other parts of the world, and that we are also more prone to heatwaves," del Campo, a spokesperson for Spain's State Meteorological Agency (AEMET), said.

"There is a clear link with climate change. A rise in average temperature always leads to an increase in episodes of extreme heat, and this is exactly what we are seeing," he said.

Countries around the Mediterranean "are among the most vulnerable to heatwaves under the new climatic conditions," he added. Temperatures in parts of Spain had already reached 35 degrees Celsius by the end of May. 

The heat has fueled wildfires that have incinerated almost 180,000 hectares in Spain, about six times the 29,817 recorded over the same period in 2025, and around 200,000 people have been forced to flee their homes amid the inferno in Spain and southern France. 

Major blazes have ravaged parts of central Spain, including areas near Madrid, and southwestern France, particularly around Bordeaux, 

"The heat begins earlier, and the lack of rain means summer droughts also begin earlier. This means that forest vegetation, especially fine grasses and shrubs, dries out more intensely and quickly. When a fire breaks out, this dry organic matter burns violently and rapidly, making the fire difficult to control from the outset," del Campo said.

"For meteorological reasons alone, fire management will have to adapt to these longer and hotter summers."

The World Meteorological Organization said in July that Europe as a whole has warmed by around two degrees Celsius since the historic heatwave of 1976. It attributes the sustained rise in summer temperatures largely to climate change.

According to AEMET, June 2026 was Spain's second-hottest and third-driest June since national records began in 1961.

(With input from Xinhua)