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.

Spain's worst wave of wildfires in at least two decades spread to the southern slopes of the Picos de Europa mountain range on Monday and prompted authorities to close part of the popular Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route.

Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez declares civil protection emergency as wildfires devastate Spain, killing four and displacing thousands

Spain is deploying 500 more soldiers to help battle wildfires that have ravaged parched woodlands during a prolonged heat wave, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said.

Southern Europe is experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons in two decades, with Spain among the hardest-hit countries.

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.

Spain deploys 500 additional soldiers to fight devastating wildfires as extreme heat fuels blazes across Europe.

Thousands of firefighters worked overnight to contain dozens of deadly wildfires burning across Spain and Portugal as heat and gusty winds spread blazes through dry brush, forests and crops.

Wildfires are continuing in several parts of Europe, with Spain and Portugal being the worst-affected countries. Thousands of firefighters supported by soldiers and water-bombing aircraft battled over 20 major wildfires across western Spain on Monday.

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”.