Hundreds of firefighters battle forest fires in Portugal
At least 500 firefighters as well as eight planes and six helicopters have been deployed in Portugal to battle four forest fires raging in the north of the country, authorities say.
The worst fire scorched the Vila Nova de Cerveira municipality in the northeastern Minho region. The fire continued to spread on due to difficulties to access terrain as well as the "wind, high temperatures, and the ongoing drought," an unnamed fire service spokesman told AFP on Sunday.
And just fewer than 50 kilometers (31 miles) away in the same region, another wildfire is raging in the Moncao area. According to authorities, some 100 firefighters are operating there.
Nearly 80 percent of Portugal is considered to be in a severe drought, a situation that is likely to get worse in August, according to the Portuguese meteorological agency IPMA.
The country escaped relatively unscathed by wildfires last year.
Strong winds and a heat wave across much of the country has been the main drive for the fires.
Back in 2010, 16 firefighters were killed battling forest fires across the country in what may have been the worst year for wildfires in Portugal.
The wildfires charred a record 215,000 hectares that year, an area almost the size of Luxembourg, according to an estimate by the European Union's Forest Service.
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