Madrid, Sept 16, (dpa/GNA) – At least three people have died and 17 others have been injured, in wildfires raging across Portugal, authorities reported on Monday.
Earlier, a firefighter was reported to have died of a heart attack, and the bodies of two civilians were recovered, LISA news agency reported, citing the civil protection agency ANEPC.
Around 3,500 firefighters, troops and civil protection officers have been deployed, according to the authorities, with the situation worst in the north and centre of the country.
“The situation is not out of control, but it is complicated,” said ANEPC chief André Fernandes. He added that the firefighting efforts were progressing well under the circumstances.
Prime Minister Luís Montenegro cancelled all appointments until Tuesday evening due to the fires.
One of the two people who died on Monday was a 28-year-old employee of a forestry company who was surprised by the fire in the forest.
The second victim, like the firefighter before him, also had a heart attack while trying to extinguish the flames near his home, according to reports, though his identity was not initially known.
Spain, France, Italy and Greece are each set to send two firefighting planes after a request from Lisbon under the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.
The Portuguese Interior Ministry said the Spanish planes would arrive on Monday.
The Aveiro coastal district in the north of the country, where three large fires and a number of smaller fires were burning, was worst affected.
Several houses and vehicles caught fire in Albergaria-a-Velha, a town of some 25,000 residents 60 kilometres south of Porto. Evacuations had begun, Antonio Loureiro, the town’s mayor, told the Público newspaper.
Smoke from the fires had darkened the sky over the regional capital of Aveiro and other towns in the region, Público reported. The authorities said all the fires in Aveiro had broken out on Sunday evening, but that the causes were unknown.
They called on residents to remain indoors and to conserve water.
Several motorways and some country roads have been partially closed, and there was severe disruption to train and long-distance bus routes.
Around 70 people were taken to safety in different regions, and work to douse the fires was proceeding well under the circumstances, ANEPC chief Fernandes said.
Large fires were seen in other regions, including in Castelo Branco near the Spanish border, and a wildfire warning was in force across mainland Portugal.
The fires in Aveiro all broke out on Sunday evening, though the causes were unclear, according to the authorities.
There were also forest fires, some of them quite large, in other regions of Portugal.
Given the unfavourable weather conditions, the authorities said the risk of forest fires is elevated for practically the whole of the mainland until Tuesday evening.
Portugal has largely been spared wildfires this year. Up to August 31, only around 10,000 hectares of nature had been affected, the lowest figure for the January-August period since 2014.
GNA