More than 800 firefighters worked to put out fires in the Leiria district on Thursday. As the flames engulfed the wooded hills around the village of Bemposta on Wednesday night, residents used garden hoses to irrigate gardens and roofs.
Prime Minister Antonio Costa announced on Thursday that they have extended the extraordinary emergency preparedness to Sunday, due to persistently high temperatures. It is forbidden to visit forests that are considered to be particularly exposed to fire, and also a ban on the use of agricultural machinery and fireworks.
– An elderly man tries to save his house by soaking the surroundings with the help of a water hose in the village of Bemposta in central Portugal on Wednesday. Photo: Armando Franca / AP / NTB
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Firefighters battled 200 different fires on Wednesday, Costa said, urging residents to be extra careful.
– A careless little action can lead to a great tragedy, he warned.
More than 25,000 acres of forest have been burned in the country this week. and around 865 people have had to evacuate. But many of them were able to return home on Thursday.
Still: At least 30 houses have been damaged.
– In France, too, hard work is being done to overcome forest fires during the ongoing heat wave that has hit Europe. The photo was taken by the fire brigade in the Gironde region, southwest of the country, on Thursday. Photo: Brannbrigaden SDIS 33 / AP / NTB
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160 people are injured, among them 70 firefighters – four of them seriously. A person was found dead on Tuesday in an area affected by fire in Aveiro, which is located on the west coast.
Central Portugal has been particularly hard hit by forest fires, but the heat wave that has hit Europe has also led to fires in France, Spain and Greece.
In France, thousands of firefighters and helicopters are fighting to control two fires out of control in the southwest Bordeaux region.
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