MADRID (Xinhua) -- The Spanish government on Tuesday declared the country's 15 autonomous regions a disaster zone after they were badly affected by forest fires .

This was announced by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez during his visit to Valenciana on Monday, and confirmed by government spokeswoman Isabel Rodriguez after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

In 2022, wildfires will kill three people and temporarily evict 27,500 people from their homes in Spain.

The declaration means that it will be easier and faster for those affected to obtain compensation and grants for recovery.

The affected autonomous regions are Andalusia, Aragon, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Castile-Leon, Castile-La Mancha, Catalonia, Valencia, Extremadura, Galicia, Murcia, Navarra, Basque Country, La Rioja, and Madrid.

The European Forest Fire Information System, which bases its findings on data provided by the Copernicus satellite, reported that fires in Spain have destroyed 286,635 hectares this year, making it the worst affected country in the European Union.