By Mithil AggarwalNBC
News
An unprecedented heatwave could pose a "danger to life" in the UK, forecasters have warned as high temperatures fueled wildfires and prompted weather warnings in several European countries.
On Saturday, the British government held a meeting of its emergency committee after the country's national weather service issued its first "red warning" for extreme heat for Monday and Tuesday.
That means it "is very likely to be life-threatening, with substantial disruption to travel, energy supply, and possible widespread damage to property and infrastructure," the Weather Bureau said on its website.
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The announcement came after the UK Health Security Agency raised its heat and health warning from level three to level four, constituting a national emergency.
Temperatures in southern England are forecast to reach 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the Met Office said Friday.
They could also top the UK's highest ever temperature of 101.7 degrees, recorded in July 2019.
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As a result, officials in a country where air conditioning in homes is rare have urged people not to take public transportation, and some schools have said they will hold classes remotely.
Across Britain, data indicates that cities such as London and Manchester will reach the temperatures predicted in long-term climate projections for the year 2040. Highs of nearly 104 degrees are forecast.
People cooled off by dipping their feet in the fountain in London's Trafalgar Square during a heat wave on July 13.Getty Images
France and Portugal, red hot
Scorching temperatures are also forecast for parts of France and Spain, where a high of 107.6 degrees is forecast on Monday.
In the Bordeaux region of southwestern France, 12,200 people have been forced to evacuate their homes as wildfires rage, the Gironde department local authority said in a statement on Saturday.
Nearly 1,200 firefighters and four specialized planes were battling to contain two fires that have burned some 39 square miles, including some forests south of the Atlantic resort town of Arcachon, that have burned since Tuesday.
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Although one of the fires was partially contained, higher temperatures and winds over the weekend could complicate firefighting efforts, the department statement said.
"We are experiencing an exceptionally tough (summer) season," French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday during a visit to the government's crisis management center at the Interior Ministry in Paris.
We are experiencing an exceptionally tough (summer) season."
Emmanuel Macron, President of France
Already triple the number of French forests that have been burned in fires this year than were affected in 2020, he said.
Further south, in Portugal, a national high of 117 degrees was recorded in the northern city of Pinhao on Wednesday, as Africa's warm, dry air mass blew over the western edge of the Iberian Peninsula.
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On Saturday, more than 3,000 firefighters continued to battle multiple blazes as citizens desperately sought to save their homes.
The pilot of a plane discharging water died on Friday after the aircraft crashed while fighting a forest fire in the Torre de Moncorvo municipality in northern Portugal, near the border with Spain.
Portugal's Civil Protection Agency said just over 38 square miles burned this week.
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Spain also fights against fires
Meanwhile, in neighboring Spain, temperatures topped 104 degrees for several days as firefighters struggled to control a fire sparked by lightning Monday in the west-central area of Las Hurdes that consumed about 21 square miles of land.
Some 400 people from eight towns were evacuated Thursday as flames neared their homes and spread to nearby Monfragüe National Park.
In the Spanish city of Seville, some unions called for workers to be sent home.
Firefighters from Croatia and Hungary also battled fires throughout the week, sparked by high temperatures and lightning.
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Firefighters discovered a body Thursday morning in the ruins of a burned farm, Hungary's disaster management authority said in a statement on Thursday.
Several villages were also evacuated in Greece and Morocco as fires swept across the Mediterranean.
Due to this situation, the European Union has urged Member States to prepare for forest fires this summer, as the continent faces a series of extreme events that, according to scientists, have been caused by climate change.