German Firefighters Join Battle Against Spain’s Wildfires

German firefighters have arrived in northern Spain to assist in combating the country’s most severe wildfires in decades.

According to the Bonn Fire Brigade, 67 emergency personnel and 23 vehicles reached San Sebastián in the Basque Country on Tuesday. The team is expected to proceed to Extremadura, on the Portuguese border, one of the regions hardest hit by the fires.

One of the largest blazes is raging near Jarilla in Extremadura, where about 15,000 hectares of land have already been destroyed. Neighboring Portugal is also battling four major wildfires.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska were scheduled to visit the Extremadura fire zone on Tuesday, a day after Sánchez toured fire-ravaged areas in Galicia.

Reinforcements have also arrived from France, Italy, Finland, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, alongside firefighting aircraft. However, meteorologists warn that rain—the most effective relief—remains unlikely in the coming days.

Authorities described the situation as dangerous, with unpredictable winds fueling fire walls several meters high and creating the risk of crews being encircled. One Spanish commander compared the scale of the blazes to a “fire tsunami.”

So far, four people have died in Spain and two in Portugal. In Galicia, four firefighters were injured on Monday evening, including one who suffered severe burns, according to RTVE.

Since the start of the year, wildfires have scorched an estimated 3,440 square kilometers across Spain. The worst-affected regions include Castile and León, Galicia, Extremadura, and Asturias, forcing thousands of residents to evacuate despite most blazes being in sparsely populated, mountainous areas.