Madrid — Firefighters in Spain, Portugal and Greece battled ongoing wildfires Friday, an important religious holiday in all three countries, as persistent hot, dry conditions challenged efforts to contain the blazes.

Spain was fighting 14 major fires, according to Virginia Barcones, general director of emergency services. Temperatures were expected to climb over the weekend.

“Today will once again be a very tough day, with an extreme risk of new fires,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wrote on X.

The national weather agency AEMET warned of extreme fire risk in most of the country, including where the largest blazes were burning in the north and west. A heat wave which brought temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) on several days this month was expected to las

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