PORTUGAL’S worst forest fires in living memory claimed their ninth victim yesterday as almost 2,000 firefighters, helped by the army, failed to bring the blazes under control.
In some areas, villagers have had to take on nature by themselves and last night people in Macao, near Abrantes, found their community surrounded by the fires.
The fires have destroyed dozens of homes and thousands of acres of forest in 13 out of the 18 districts on the Portuguese mainland. The centre of the country, especially Santarém and Castelo Branco, has been worst affected.
Forest fires are a regular summer occurrence in Portugal, but this year unusually hot, dry air and strong winds meant many that fires have become unmanageable. “Although temperatures are lower today, that doesn’t seem to have improved things,” Alcina Coutinho, of the Proteco Civil, Portugal’s civil defence force, said. “It’s still above 30C and the situation remains difficult.”
Firefighters have recovered the bodies of two victims burnt alive in their cars and a man in his fifties died at the weekend after being trapped by the fire while driving his tractor.
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Much of Europe has been suffering from low rainfall and high temperatures in recent weeks and flames have torn through parched forests and scrubland, setting off massive fires in Spain and France. There have been up to 1,700 forest fires in Portugal so far this year.
Antonio Figueiredo Lopes, the Portuguese Interior Minister, asked European Union member states for aircraft to help to tackle the fires. “It is one of the most serious catastrophes in the past 20 years,” he said.
Some foreign assistance has arrived already in the form of two firefighting aircraft from Italy and five from Morocco. Spanish firefighters are helping Portuguese efforts.
Portugal’s firefighters’ association has called for the Government to implement a national emergency plan. So far it has not, pointing out that there are already plans for all affected districts.
The Cabinet is to hold an extraordinary meeting today to consider compensation for those who have lost their homes, but José Manuel Duro Barroso, the Prime Minister, emphasised that the main goal was fighting the fires.
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“The first priority is to protect the lives of people in danger,” he said.