Dutch firefighters helping Spanish counterparts fight wildfires

Dutch firefighters have been helping their Spanish colleagues fight multiple wildfires. On Tuesday, a total of 15 large fires were raging in the province of Ourense, in the north-west of Spain. The largest of these fires has already destroyed thousands of hectares.

“We were deployed both Monday and Tuesday to protect villages from the fire. It was two particularly intense days,” said Edwin Kok, coordinator of the Wildfire Taskforce at Brandweer Nederland, who is in the area. “At the moment, it’s very busy in the area where we are.”

The group, consisting of 20 Dutch firefighters, traveled to the Galicia region almost two weeks ago to observe the work their Spanish colleagues were doing. They did this to learn more about firefighting techniques that could be applied in the Netherlands in the future for wildfires. The group replaced another team that had also spent two weeks in the region.

They could potentially pack up on Thursday and return to the Netherlands on Friday. "But due to the current situation, there is a chance that our team will also be deployed on Thursday."

Spain is struggling with several severe forest fires, which are often difficult to control due to high temperatures and strong winds. Thousands of people were recently forced to evacuate the Castile and Leon regions.