MADRID — Extreme heat and gusty winds spawned dangerous “fire whirls” that torched homes and forced the evacuation of hundreds of residents near a UNESCO-listed national park in northern Spain, officials said Monday, as a blistering heatwave continued to grip parts of Europe.
The phenomenon erupted amid 13 wildfires that ignited in the Castile and Leon region, prompting about 700 people to flee half a dozen villages. Four blazes remained active Monday morning, while firefighters had doused the other nine, according to Juan Carlos Suarez-Quinones, the regional government’s environment chief.
The fire whirls — swirling columns of flame resembling tornadoes — formed near Las Medulas park on Sunday when temperatures soared to around 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in a narrow valley. As the fire burst into a more open, oxygen-rich area, it created explosive fireballs, forcing crews to pull back and destroying several houses in a nearby village, Suarez-Quinones explained.
“This occurs when temperatures reach around 40 degrees Celsius in a very confined valley and then suddenly (the fire) enters a more open and oxygenated area. This produces a fireball, a fire whirl,” he said.
Scientists attribute the heightened wildfire risk in the Mediterranean to increasingly hot and dry summers fueled by climate change. Once ignited, such fires can spread rapidly with dry fuels and strong winds, sometimes generating rare but destructive fire whirls.
Spain’s heatwave persisted Monday, with forecasts calling for peaks of 42 C (108 F) in some areas. The scorching conditions extended across Europe, pushing temperatures to 43 C (109 F) in southern France and elevating wildfire dangers in the region’s famed wine-growing areas.
France’s national weather service, Météo-France, issued its highest red alert for extreme heat in 12 departments, spanning from the Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean lowlands. Another 41 departments were under orange alerts, along with the tiny principality of Andorra, nestled between France and Spain.
Agricultural climatologist Serge Zaka, speaking from Montauban in the Tarn-et-Garonne department, warned against dismissing the heat as seasonal. “Don’t be fooled – this isn’t ‘normal, it’s summer.’ It’s not normal, it’s a nightmare,” he told broadcaster BFMTV amid the unrelenting sun.
Social media captured the heat’s toll: Empty streets in Valence, where residents taped foil over windows to deflect sunlight; tourists clustering under umbrellas along the Garonne River in Toulouse; and deserted cafe patios across the south as people retreated indoors for relief.
Europe is warming faster than any other continent, scientists say, amplifying the intensity and frequency of heatwaves. According to the U.K.-based Carbon Brief, 2025 is on track to rank as the second- or third-hottest year on record. The EU’s Copernicus climate service reports that land temperatures in Europe have risen about 2.3 C (4.1 F) above pre-industrial levels — nearly double the global average.
This summer’s burned acreage across the continent already exceeds long-term averages, EU data shows, with significant fires scorching Spain and Portugal, and deadly blazes ravaging Greece since late June.
