SPAIN: Spanish police have arrested 14 people for allegedly starting the fires which have devastated more than 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) of Galicia, in northwestern Spain, over the last week.
Some 100 fires were still burning yesterday, half of them out of control, as professional and volunteer firefighters, assisted by more than a thousand military reinforcements, are fighting around the clock to control the flames.
Dozens of people have been evacuated from their homes and campsites as the fires surrounded farms and cottages, destroying everything in their path.
The fires reached the outskirts of the cities of Vigo, La Coruna, Santiago de Compostela and Pontevedra, where one came dangerously close to a motorway filling station.
Prime minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero interrupted his holiday in the Canary Islands to fly to the region to supervise the fight. Yesterday he flew over the region, expressed his horror at the scenes and promised to send in extra manpower and equipment.
His government has appealed to Brussels for assistance. Neighbouring Portugal - which already has its own fires to control - and France and Italy have sent more hydroplanes and helicopters to the area.
From the air Mr Zapatero could see the helicopters swooping over any available water, including private swimming pools, to scoop up the water. The hydroplanes came down to sea level to fill up their tanks before flying inland to dump the water over the flames.
There is little doubt that many of the fires were deliberate. Mr Zapatero said: "There are too many fires in too many different places for them to be caused by meteorological conditions."
He has ordered the police organised crime squad in to the area to help find the culprits.
Until this week Galicia was famous for its lush green countryside which, with its Celtic roots, has earned it the nickname of "Spain's Ireland". Every year thousands of visitors came to Galicia to escape the searing heat in the rest of the country and to enjoy beaches and the green hills. No longer. These same hillsides are now charred ruins that will take many years to recover.
Tourism has long been a vital source of income to the region, where the locals depended on their short summer tourism season for their livelihood.
Hotels, restaurants and bars and campsite owners report that many visitors have already left, either out of fear or because of the thick clouds of smoke. Others have cancelled bookings and the locals fear that the fires will not only be an ecological disaster for the area, but a financial one too.