Thousands of firefighters supported by soldiers and water-bombing aircraft battled over 20 major wildfires across western Spain on Monday.

Officials say a record area of land has already been burnt and thousands of people have been evacuated for their safety.

Fires have also been broken out in parts of France, Greece, Turkey and the Balkans in southeastern Europe.

In the past week, about 20 wildfires have destroyed huge areas in the regions of Galicia and Castile and Leon in the north of Spain.

Another 500 soldiers have been put in place to support firefighters tackling the fires across Spain bringing the total number of troops deployed to around 1,900.

More than 343,000 hectares (848,000 acres) of land, which is the same as nearly half a million football pitches and about two times as big as London, have been destroyed this year in Spain.

According to the European Fire Information System (EFFIS) this is a new national record.

Portugal, a country that borders Spain, has also been tackling wildfires since late July.

Around 2,000 firefighters were sent out to the north and centre of the country on Monday.

The EFFIS reported that Portugal’s wildfires had burned about 216,000 hectares of land.

While wildfires are common across southern Europe in the summer, they can be made worse by heatwaves and droughts.

Meteorologists who study the weather say extreme weather is becoming worse and more frequent due to human-made climate change and a report from Spain’s weather agency says climate change is making the weather harsher.

Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said the country had endured 24 days of weather conditions of “unprecedented severity”, where a combination of high temperatures and strong winds has made the fires worse.

Both Spain and Portugal have also been offered or is receiving help from nearby countries such as France, Italy, Germany and Netherlands including firefighters and fire-fighting planes.