The key to preventing forest fires is creating a rural economy based on the use of forests. While this would generate much-needed employment in “la España vaciada” – “hollowed-out Spain”, the name given to the country’s depopulated rural areas – it also costs money. It is therefore essential to invest in forests.

A fourth person died as wildfires blaze on in Spain and parts of Europe worsened by sweltering heat fueled by effects of climate change. Spain's weather agency, Aemet, warned the public on Monday to be "cautious" of the "very high or extreme fire danger" in most of Spain as it reported high 108 degree Fahrenheit temperates on Sunday in Cadiz in the southern tip of Spain only miles to the Strait of Gibraltar.

The Foreign Office has revised its travel guidance to Spain as thousands of residents across the nation have been forced to flee their homes. Blazes are currently sweeping through the north eastern region of the country, with over 375,000 hectares already consumed by flames.

Europe has been warming twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, making the region more vulnerable to wildfires.

This year is turning into one of the worst fire seasons in recent memory in Europe. Firefighters are struggling to contain out-of-control wildfires in western Spain and Portugal.

Spain’s Pedro Sanchez called for a nationwide pact uniting all levels of government to combat what he called an accelerating climate emergency as wildfires raged in several regions of the country.

Spain continues to battle major wildfires on Sunday, especially in the north-western Galicia region where blazes have torn through parched forests for more than a week.

Spain's worst wave of wildfires on record spread to the southern slopes of the Picos de Europa mountains on Monday (Aug 18) and prompted authorities to close part of the popular C