Spain is battling 20 major wildfires as a third week of extreme heat pushes thermometers close to 45 °C, forcing the government to draft in an extra 500 soldiers and lift the total military deployment to around 1,900, the Interior Ministry said. Officials called the situation one of the worst wildfire seasons in two decades, with scorching winds and low humidity hindering containment efforts. The blazes are concentrated in the north-western region of Galicia and neighbouring Castile-and-León, where several fires have merged, shutting stretches of highway and the Madrid–Galicia high-speed rail link and prompting evacuations. Authorities also closed a section of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage trail. Thick smoke has grounded some water-bombing aircraft, and residents of cut-off villages have resorted to bucket brigades to shield homes while awaiting reinforcements. At least four people have died in Spain, including a firefighter whose truck overturned, and media report two additional fatalities in Portugal. Since June, police have arrested 27 people and placed 92 others under investigation for suspected arson. The fires have already charred more than 115,000 hectares in Spain and about 155,000 hectares in Portugal, according to provisional government and EU data. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez warned that “challenging days lie ahead,” although forecasters expect temperatures to ease from Tuesday. Both Spain and Portugal have triggered the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism, securing extra water-dumping aircraft and crews from France, Italy, Sweden and the Netherlands to bolster local firefighting capacity.