Fires rage in northern Spain

Photo of a fire raging in a mountain as cars ply a road in northern Spain (Photo grabbed from Reuters video)

OURENSE, Spain (Reuters) — Firefighters on Tuesday (August 22) battled to control a forest fire in northern Spain which forced the closure of a highway.

The fire raged in Monterrei close to the town of Verin in the region of Galicia, near the Portuguese border.

The fire is still active and has so far burnt 20 hectares and forced electricity to be cut for an hour in Verin and the villages nearby.

Nearby Portugal has been beset by its deadliest summer of wildfires in living memory, with 63 people dying in a forest fire in June.