A searing heatwave sweeping southern Europe has unleashed dozens of wildfires in Spain and Turkey, killing one person, injuring several others and forcing the evacuation of more than 4,000 residents and tourists, regional authorities said on Tuesday. In Spain, flames driven by winds of up to 70 kilometres per hour tore through Tres Cantos, a suburb 25 kilometres north of Madrid, on Monday night. The fire was contained on Tuesday morning but not before a man who suffered severe burns died in hospital. Emergency services said 180 people were temporarily evacuated and another resident was treated for chest pains. Hundreds of kilometres to the northwest, about 1,400 people left their homes as blazes threatened Las Médulas, a UNESCO World Heritage site in the province of León. Firefighters reported “fire whirls” triggered by temperatures above 40 °C that destroyed houses and warehouses and complicated containment efforts. Further south, officials in Andalusia said roughly 2,000 holiday-makers were cleared from beaches and accommodation near Tarifa when a separate wildfire flared on Monday night. Spain’s interior ministry has convened an emergency committee to coordinate the deployment of water-bombing aircraft and military brigades across several regions still facing extreme fire risk. The state meteorological agency forecast that the heatwave—now in its tenth day—will keep daytime highs near 40 °C and night-time lows above 25 °C through the week. Across the Mediterranean, wildfires in Turkey’s north-western Canakkale province burned for a second day, prompting the precautionary evacuation of hundreds of residents. Authorities temporarily closed Canakkale airport and the Dardanelles Strait and said seven planes, six helicopters and about 700 personnel were fighting the flames. At least 50 people were treated for smoke exposure, according to the provincial governor. Scientists warn that warmer, drier summers linked to climate change are lengthening heatwaves and increasing the frequency and intensity of wildfires in the Mediterranean basin.