Spain is deploying an additional 500 soldiers to combat raging wildfires, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced on Sunday, as the country grapples with a prolonged period of scorching weather. The new deployment adds to the more than 1,400 troops already battling blazes across parched woodland.

Southern Europe is experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons in two decades, with Spain among the hardest-hit countries.

Spain is deploying 500 more soldiers to help battle wildfires that have ravaged parched woodlands during a prolonged heatwave, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said.