Firefighters from five thousand different companies are working hard to put out flames that are blazing throughout northern Portugal.
It is believed that the flames were responsible for the deaths of three persons and for the evacuation of an undetermined number of inhabitants from their houses.
After receiving reports of around one hundred fires, the firefighting crews were strained to their limits. It has not yet been determined by the authorities how many individuals have been forced to flee their houses and how many properties have been destroyed.
RTP, the state-run broadcasting organization of Portugal, displayed photos of homes that had been completely destroyed by fire and smoke rising over the scorched landscape in the Castro de Aire neighborhood.
Civil protection officials have reported that one citizen has passed away as a result of burns, while another has passed away as a result of cardiac arrest, as a result of the fires that broke out over the weekend.
An unidentified sickness claimed the life of a fireman who was on duty in the district of Aveiro, which is located south of the city of Porto in the north of Portugal. This region is one of the most severely affected locations. In a statement made on Monday, the Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro expressed his sympathies to the family, friends, and co-workers of the fireman, stating that the firefighter had been a “victim of a sudden illness.”
Aircraft from Portugal that were used for water dumping provided assistance to ground forces. Spain, France, Italy, and Greece, all of whom are members of the European Union, have confirmed their intention to provide eight more aircraft to assist the local troops.
“The European Union stands with Portugal as it battles major wildfires,” said Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, in a statement that was broadcast on X Network. “I need to express my gratitude to France, Greece, Italy, and Spain for their prompt response. It is the epitome of EU togetherness at its finest.
On the other hand, photos that were shown on television showed some homeowners attempting to rescue their houses from the advancing flames by using tree branches and buckets of water.
An warning for flames has been brought forward till Thursday by national authorities since there is no sign of rain in sight to alleviate the situation. In light of the fact that there is a possibility that sparks might ignite other fires, the policy included a prohibition on farmers using heavy equipment to harvest crops.
During the year 2017, Portugal was ravaged by enormous flames that claimed the lives of more than 120 people and consumed more than half a million hectares of land.
While rains produced floods in central Europe, the dry and hot circumstances that led to the outbreaks in Portugal were the source of the outbreaks in Portugal.
As of Tuesday, the number of fatalities resulting from the catastrophic floods that started over the weekend has reached at least 19; seven of these deaths have been verified to have occurred in Romania. Furthermore, Poland, Austria, and the Czech Republic were among the countries that were struck the worst.