MADRID (AFP): Spain was on maximum alert for wildfires on Monday on the second day of a new heatwave that sparked a forest fire in the northern region of Aragon over the weekend. “Extreme wildlife alert throughout Spain, maximum precaution,” the ministry of agriculture said in a Twitter message. Spain’s national weather office put nearly all of the country on “red” alert for wildfires, the highest level in the five-stage scale, warning of an “extreme” risk of blazes.
Temperatures are expected to reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in the centre and southeast of Spain on Monday. In the rest of Spain temperatures will soar to between 36-38 degrees Celsius.