Authorities reported Monday afternoon that fires in the center of the country have been brought under control, but the situation remains serious.

The country suffers from wildfires almost every year, but this year no major fires were reported until a few days ago. The current heat wave that began over the weekend has changed that. It is likely to remain very hot at least until Thursday and temperatures could soar above 40 degrees.

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Just across the northeastern border, in a mountainous region of Spain, the Sierra de la Culebra, a massive wildfire broke out last month that burned 25,000 hectares. There have already been wildfires in several places in Spain this year, destroying nearly 82,000 hectares of forest. That’s more than it was in the whole of last year.

There are also wildfires in Italy and France, and the municipality of Nice in southeastern France has banned fireworks on the national holiday, July 14. The city fears that fireworks in this drought will cause fires. In Greece, it rained heavily last weekend. There are no longer threatened bushfires, but temperatures are expected to rise again from July 18.