Wildfires in Portugal blamed for three deaths as Europe sends aircraft to help

LISBON, Portugal — Five thousand firefighters struggled Tuesday to contain multiple wildfires raging across northern Portugal that are blamed for causing three deaths and forcing an unknown number of residents to flee their homes.

Some 100 fires reported by national authorities stretched the firefighting brigades. Authorities have yet to give figures on how many people have had to evacuate and how many homes have been lost.

Portuguese state broadcaster RTP showed images of houses burnt to the ground and smoke billowing over charred terrain in the area of Castro de Aire.

One civilian has died from burns and another from cardiac arrest from the fires that broke out over the weekend, according to civil protection authorities.

Among the hardest hit areas is the district of Aveiro, south of the northern city of Porto, where a firefighter died from an unspecified illness while on duty. Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro said on Monday that the firefighter was “victim of a sudden illness” and offered his condolences to his family, friends and co-workers.

Ground units were supported by Portuguese water dumping aircraft. Fellow European Union members Spain, France Italy and Greece have committed to providing eight more planes to help local forces.

“The EU stands with Portugal as it battles major wildfires,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a message on X. “I thank France, Greece, Italy and Spain for their rapid reaction. This is EU solidarity at its best.”

Still, televised images showed some residents wielding tree branches and buckets of water to try to save their homes from encroaching fires.

With no rain to relieve in the situation in sight, national authorities prolonged an alert for fires until Thursday. The measure included a ban on farmers using heavy machinery to harvest crops because of the risk of sparks that could start more fires.

The dry and hot conditions behind the outbreaks in Portugal came while downpours caused flooding in central Europe.

Portugal was devasted by massive fires in 2017 that killed over 120 people and burned over half a million hectares.

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Joseph Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain.