Thousands of firefighters on Tuesday battled wildfires in Portugal that have killed seven people and burnt more land in a matter of days than the rest of the summer combined.
Fanned by bellowing winds in the stifling heat, the three biggest fires concentrated in the northern Aveiro region scorched some 10,000 hectares by Monday evening, according to a civil protection report.
Three firefighters died on Tuesday when their vehicle was trapped by the flames civil protection authorities said, bringing the fire-related toll up to seven.
“We regret the death of three firefighters,” the national commander of civil protection, Andre Fernandes, told reporters, adding that the two women and a man were killed while fighting flames near Nelas in the northern Viseu region.
Across the Iberian nation, more than 3,700 firefighters, over 1,000 vehicles and around 20 aircraft on Tuesday were battling the flames, with an alert warning in force since Saturday afternoon extended until Thursday evening.
“We’re in for some very difficult times over the next few days,” Portugal’s Prime Minister Luis Montenegro — who cancelled all his Tuesday engagements in response to the blaze — warned on Monday evening.
Portuguese authorities have invoked the EU’s civil the European civil protection mechanism to obtain eight additional firefighting aircraft.
Following the two Canadair water bombers sent from Spain on Monday, aircraft made available by France, Italy and Greece were also expected to arrive.
In the municipality of Albergaria-a-Velha, a 28-year-old Brazilian employed by a forestry company died of carbon monoxide poisoning, trapped by the flames as he tried to collect some tools.
Another person suffered a heart attack on Monday, while on Sunday a volunteer fighter died suddenly while taking a lunch break from battling a blaze near Oliveira de Azemeis hard-hit Aveiro.
Raging since the weekend before worsening on Monday, the blazes have also left at least 40 people injured, including 33 firefighters, according to the latest figures from the authorities.
Several roads are still cut off in the northern Portuguese districts of Aveiro, Viseu, Vila Real, Braga and Porto as well as in the central Coimbra region.
Monday saw the highest fire-risk weather conditions in the northern half of the country since 2001, according to experts interviewed by the weekly Expresso.
Scientists say that fossil fuel emissions are worsening the length, frequency and intensity of heatwaves across the world.
The rising temperatures are leading to longer wildfire seasons and increasing the area burnt in the flames, according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.