The fires have ravaged small, sparsely populated towns in the country's northwest, forcing locals in many cases to act as firefighters. About 2,382 square miles have burned across Spain and Portugal.

Every summer, forest fires sweep across Spain, dominating headlines and leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. This year's have been especially harsh, with devastating fires thus far in Tarifa,

Southern Europe is experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons in two decades, with Spain among the hardest-hit countries.

Spain's weather agency warned the public on Monday to be "cautious" of the "very high or extreme fire danger."

Spain deploys 500 additional soldiers to fight devastating wildfires as extreme heat fuels blazes across Europe.

Spain is deploying 500 more soldiers to help battle wildfires that have ravaged parched woodlands during a prolonged heatwave, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said.

VILLANUEVA DE LA SIERRA, Spain, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Spain battled 14 major fires driven by high winds and aggravated by heat on Friday as authorities warned of "unfavourable conditions" to tackle flames that have already killed seven people and burned an area the size of London.

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.

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.

Joaquín Ramírez of Technosylva, a Spanish company that specialises in prevention and response to wildfires, attributed this year’s litany of fires to “a combination of abandonment of rural areas, abandonment of managing [the land] and the stress exerted on our forest areas”.