A man has died and thousands of people have been forced to evacuate their homes and hotels as a wave of deadly wildfires, fueled by a searing heatwave and strong winds, sweeps across Spain. The fatality marks the first death from the dozens of blazes that have erupted since an intense heatwave began last week.

The victim suffered fatal burns after being caught in a fast-moving fire that ignited on Monday near Tres Cantos, a suburb north of the capital, Madrid. According to regional officials, the fire advanced 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) in just 40 minutes, propelled by winds of up to 70 kilometers per hour (43 mph). Firefighters were able to contain the blaze by Tuesday morning, but not before it had scorched more than 1,000 hectares of land.

The fires are also raging in other parts of Spain, forcing mass evacuations in multiple regions:

• In the southern region of Andalusia, approximately 2,000 people were evacuated from homes and hotels near the popular beaches of Tarifa.
• In the northwestern region of Castile and Leon, more than 3,700 people have been displaced from 16 municipalities. One of the blazes in this area is threatening Las Médulas, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Spanish government has declared a “pre-emergency phase” to coordinate the national response. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez offered his condolences and thanked the emergency services for their “tireless efforts.”

While authorities have not specified a single cause for all the fires, officials and experts have pointed to the “molotov cocktail” of climatic conditions record breaking temperatures, low humidity, and powerful winds as the main drivers. Some blazes have been attributed to lightning strikes, while local authorities in other regions have raised suspicions of arson. The current wildfires are part of a broader crisis across Southern Europe, with neighboring countries like Portugal and Turkey also battling major blazes.