Fires ravage southern Europe and force thousands of people to abandon their homes

While Catalonia is still working on extinguishing the Gavarres fire , which has already burned more than 2,300 hectares, numerous forest fires are ravaging southern Europe this Monday and have forced thousands of people to abandon their homes. As of this morning, the fires – located mainly in France, Portugal, Greece, and Spain – have already burned a total of 19,000 hectares, which would be equivalent to almost twice the size of the city of Barcelona.The fires come after a June marked by a strong heatwave that crossed the continent, broke record highs in many places and caused thousands of deaths attributable to these extreme temperatures, especially in France. With an eye on a new heatwave predicted for this very week , Europe does not lower its guard and maintains caution against possible flare-ups of the flames.