EU-landen helpen Spanje bij bestrijding bosbranden (en)

Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has interrupted his summer holidays in Lanzarote to visit fire fighting crews combating more than 100 wildfires in north western Spain.

The Spanish government earlier this week (9 August) requested EU assistance via the Community Mechanism for Civil Protection to help combat the wildfires in the region of Galicia.

Mr Zapatero said "criminal activity" was behind a considerable number of the outbreaks, a situation which he described as a crisis, according to CNN.

Police have arrested several people this week on suspicion of starting the fires, which have burnt down more than 10,000 hectares and killed three people in six days, media agencies reported.

Italy, France and Portugal have committed fire-fighting airplanes, fire fighters and vehicles, while Andorra, Morocco, Germany and the Czech Republic also have offered aid.

Following a very dry summer, forest fires have also plagued northern Europe.

Finnish authorities this week offered help to Russia to put out forest fires near the Finnish border, as the wind blew smoke from Russia into southern Finland.

In Helsinki, concentrations of fine particles were tenfold compared with the annual average, causing extremely poor air quality while sea visibility was occasionally down to just two kilometres, Finnish media reported.

But the Russian Ministry for Emergencies said the situation was under control.