Man dies in wildfire as heatwave grips Europe

WorldEnvironment
12 Aug 2025 • 4:57 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

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  • A devastating wildfire near Madrid, which claimed one life and forced the evacuation of 180 people, has been successfully contained by firefighters.
  • The victim was a man who died after suffering burns to 98 per cent of his body, with the blaze ravaging over 1,000 hectares of land in the Tres Cantos area.
  • This incident occurred amid a series of intense heatwaves gripping Europe, with temperatures exceeding 40C in southern France and the Western Balkans.
  • Europe is experiencing significantly faster warming than the global average, with land temperatures rising about 2.3C above pre-industrial levels, intensifying heatwaves and driving record fire seasons.
  • Wildfires are also burning across other European countries, including France, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Turkey, and Hungary, with several regions issuing high-level heat warnings and reporting record temperatures.

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