Raging wildfires tore through an additional 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) of western Spain in less than 24 hours, satellite data showed Tuesday, but cooler temperatures have raised hopes of containment.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned that “difficult hours remain” in the fight against wildfires ravaging the country, despite temperatures dropping.

“I ask the media, and also citizens, to exercise extreme caution, to not let our guard down. Critical moments remain, difficult hours remain,” he said during a visit to the hard-hit western region of Extremadura.

Some 373,000 hectares (922,000 acres) have been scorched in Spain so far this year, the European Forest Fire Information System said, marking the country’s worst fire season since records began in 2006. The total has already surpassed 2022, when 306,000 hectares were destroyed.

The bulk of the devastation has come from massive fires burning for more than a week in the northwestern provinces of Zamora and Leon, Galicia’s Ourense province, and Caceres in the western region of Extremadura. Thousands of residents have been evacuated from dozens of villages, major roads have been closed, and rail services between Madrid and Galicia suspended.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was expected to visit fire-hit areas in Zamora and Caceres on Tuesday. Officials warned the blazes remain far from extinguished, but the end of a 16-day heatwave has improved conditions for firefighters, with temperatures dropping by 10 to 12 degrees Celsius and humidity rising.

“These changes are facilitating and improving the conditions to gain control of the fires,” said Nicanor Sen, the central government’s representative in Castile and Leon, on public broadcaster TVE.