LEIRIA: Nearly 20 blazes raged across Portugal and several burned in western Spain on Wednesday, menacing villages and disrupting tourists’ holidays amid a heatwave that meteorologists expect to push temperatures into the high 40s Celsius.
In France, about 800 firefighters, supported by six water-bomber aircraft, were battling two wildfires in the southwest, which have already prompted the evacuation of thousands of campers, Gironde prefect Fabienne Buccio said.
In Santiago de Guarda in the central Portuguese district of Leiria, Albertina Francisco struggled to hold back tears as a cloud of black smoke billowed over the tiny village.
“It was very hard,” said Francisco, 42, who was helping her sick sister evacuate. “Nobody helped – the firefighters and the (water-bomber) aircraft only got here now…The state must do more to help us.”
Some villagers rescued pets while others helped firefighters battle the flames.
In Leiria, where temperatures soared to 45 degrees Celsius (113°F) and over 3,000 hectares have been burnt so far, authorities blocked major motorways and side streetsas strong winds made it harder for firefighters to fight the flames.
Nearly 750 firefighters were combating two active blazes in Leiria alone, while in the whole of mainland Portugal there were 2,751 firefighters on the ground, backed by 23 aircraft. –Agencies
