A forest fire has blazed through southern Spain, forcing the evacuation of tourists and locals from a popular beach resort.
The blaze started on Tuesday afternoon in the Andalusian resort town of Tarifa after a motorhome caught fire, local media said. It spread quickly and reached areas near Valdevaqueros beach and Estrecho Natural Park.
Homes, hotels, campsites and restaurants along a roughly two mile stretch between La Peña and Casas de Porros were evacuated.
The evacuated hotels include Punta Sur, La Torre, Tres Mares, 100% Fun Tarifa, Copacabana, and Dulce Nombre, as well as particularly affected areas such as the Valdevaqueros campsite, Paloma Baja, the Casa Porro area, the Torre de la Peña campsite and the El Tumbao and El Tangana beach bars, according to local reports.
More than 100 firefighters were working to tackle the blaze, Andalusia’s firefighting agency Infoca said. Seventeen aircraft were also deployed in “record time” to help fight the flames, authorities said.
Firefighter efforts were concentrated on tackling the southern area of the fire, closest to the N-340 highway. The road has only been opened to traffic and access to evacuated areas is still restricted, according to the latest update from local authorities.
While many Britons flock to Malaga and Marbella, Tarifa is a lesser-known holiday destination but popular among kite surfers for its windy beaches and laid-back atmosphere.
Located at the southernmost tip of Europe, just west of Gibraltar, Tarifa is home to about 18,000 residents.
“It's the fastest spreading fire I've ever seen,” Tarifa Mayor José Antonio Santos told La Sexta television channel yesterday. “There are lots of aircraft, everyone has been evacuated.”
Mr Santos added that regional authorities had been working to relocate people who have been evacuated.
Spain’s meteorological service Aemet announced on X that the intense heat will continue at least until Sunday, but that it was difficult to pinpoint the end of the heatwave.
Aemet predicted the Cadiz region is expected to reach up to 38C with much of Spain placed on yellow or amber weather warning alert.
It comes as a wildfire blazed in southern France near the Spanish border late, scorching about 4,500 hectares of forest, the fire brigade said late on Tuesday.
Last week thousands of firefighters across Spain and Portugal battled a wave of wildfires, some of which were burning for days.
Spain and other countries in the Mediterranean are in an area scientists have called “a wildfire hotspot”, with blazes common during hot and dry summers.
Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, especially in southeastern Europe, making the region more vulnerable to wildfires.
Heatwaves also arrived earlier this year, spiking temperatures by up to 10C in some regions, scientists said.
Europe is the world's fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing at twice the speed as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service.
The burning of fuels like gasoline, oil and coal, plus deforestation, wildfires and many kinds of factories release heat-trapping gasses that cause climate change.
