The Spanish branch of the environmental pressure group Greenpeace warned about the continued threat of forest fires in Spain on Thursday.

The fire, starting Monday in a natural park in Horta de Sant Joan, Tarragona, has destroyed 800 hectares of land.

High temperatures, which have soared to more than 40 degrees centigrade in parts of Spain, contributed to the fires.

A change of wind direction has also hampered efforts to put out the blaze, which killed four firefighters near the Catalan town of Tarragona on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the express train service between Barcelona and Madrid was suspended for a time on Thursday because of the raging fire.

Greenpeace warned this kind of fire is going to become habitual in Spain as climactic conditions are going to make it virtually impossible to extinguish them.

"Since the start of the 1990s we have been able to see the presence of fires that wipe out huge surface areas. Their virulence and destructive power is very high," Greenpeace said.

They believed that the change in profile of these fires is related to the continued trend of global warming and changes in rainfall patterns.

"It is to be expected that unless climate conditions change again, this kind of fire will become more normal in the dry season," they said.

Greenpeace Director Juan Lopez de Uralde called on the government to take stronger fire prevention measures, undertake better care of forested areas and combat climate change.

(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2009)