Morocco has sent two water-bombing planes to help Spain battle a 10-day-old wildfire that has burned nearly 10% of the land on the Canary Island of La Gomera.
The wildfires are the latest blazes in a summer forest fire season that has been one of the worst in recent memory for Spain and Portugal.
Drought and high temperatures have made it extremely difficult for authorities to extinguish the fires. But the Canary Island regional government said the extra planes and a drop in temperatures were raising hopes that firefighters might finally control the blazes that have burned 12 square miles in and around the Garajonay National Park, a UNESCO world heritage site.
The planes made the total working at La Gomera up to seven, plus seven water-bombing helicopters.
Hit particularly hard in Spain have been the Canary Islands and forested areas in southern Spain near the Mediterranean. In Portugal, the fires included a raging blaze that burned homes late last month on the edge of the largest city on Madeira Island.
Two firefighters were killed battling blazes over the weekend in Spain's Alicante region. But the country's most devastating fire deaths this year happened in late...
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