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

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

Specially trained firefighting units from Bonn, Dusseldorf and three other cities set off from Bonn at midday on Sunday to help Spain combat its severe wildfires, according to the Bonn Fire Department.