Greenpeace warns of continued threat of forest fire in Spain

MADRID, July 23 (Xinhua) -- The Spanish branch of the environmental pressure group Greenpeace warned about the continued threat of forest fires in Spain on Thursday.

Helicopters work to to extinguish a wildfire at the Horta de Sant Joan village in Gandesa, near Tarragona, July 22, 2009. Four Spanish firemen died and two more were seriously hurt battling a forest blaze in the northern region of Catalonia on Tuesday, a local official told state radio.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

The fire, starting Monday in a natural park in Horta de Sant Joan, Tarragona, has destroyed 800 hectares of land.

High temperatures, which have soared to more than 40 degrees centigrade in parts of Spain, contributed to the fires.

A change of wind direction has also hampered efforts to put out the blaze, which killed four firefighters near the Catalan town of Tarragona on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the express train service between Barcelona and Madrid was suspended for a time on Thursday because of the raging fire.

Greenpeace warned this kind of fire is going to become habitual in Spain as climactic conditions are going to make it virtually impossible to extinguish them.