The most severe damage was wrought in Spain, which is suffering from its worst drought since 1945.

A forest fire killed 11 volunteer firemen and burnt some 13,000 hectares (32,500) of pine trees on Saturday in the central region of Guadalajara.

Believed to have been sparked by a campers' barbecue, the fire was largely brought under control on Wednesday after an all-night struggle. It still blazed on one front but was encircled by an eight-kilometer (five-mile) barrier.

Funerals for the 11 firefighters -- aged 24 to 52 -- were held on Wednesday.

The drought showed no sign of letting up, and temperatures in the centre of the country on Wednesday hit 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit).

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and called a special government meeting for Friday to adopt measures to deal with the fires.

He promised "strict" measures and heavy penalties for those who caused the fires.

In Portugal, which has also been experiencing its most severe dry spell since the 1940s, some 30,000 hectares of vegetation have gone up in smoke since the beginning of the year.

A man in his 60s died on Wednesday near the village of Alvaiazere, some 160 kilometres (100 miles) northeast of the capital Lisbon as he tried to escape the flames, local officials said.

More than 3,000 firefighters backed by water-dropping planes and dozens of vehicles were deployed across the country to combat more than 20 wildfires.

The largest blaze raged near the central mountain town of Seia, destroying several homes and cars, and forcing the evacuation of four nearby villages.

The country's busiest highway linking Lisbon to Porto was temporarily shut down on Wednesday for the second day in a row.

"The meteorological conditions are bad, it is very hot, it is very windy. All of this has made the battle against the blaze difficult," the mayor of Seia, Eduardo Brito, told news radio TSF.

"Extreme" drought is affecting 80 percent of the country, notably in the southern Alentejo and Algarve regions, while in the rest of the country the situation is classified as "serious" by Portugal's Water Institute.

The government has launched a public awareness campaign urging people to conserve water.

In Italy, nearly 200 fires were recorded across the country between Saturday and Tuesday, mainly on islands and in the central and southern regions.

The Italian authorities reported 82 fires on Tuesday alone. More than 30 blazes occurred in the southern region of Calabria, where a 70-year-old man died while trying to put out a blaze near his property.

"This is July. The wind is rather strong and this constitutes a major risk," the head of Italy's civil protection authority Guido Bertolaso said Tuesday.

A state of alert has been declared on the island of Sardinia after a blaze devastated farms, fields and warehouses. The full extent of the damage was not yet known.

Drought concerns have also led French authorities to limit water consumption in over half the country.

In Greece, the fire department has faced considerable brush fire activity in recent days, but abundant rain in June and a lack of wind have helped to curb damage.

But amid rising temperatures, Greek authorities issued public health warnings Wednesday and braced for record-breaking electricity consumption.

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