LEIRIA, Portugal: More than 20 wildfires raged across Portugal and several burned in western Spain on Wednesday July 13, threatening villages and disrupting tourist vacations amid a heatwave which, according to meteorologists, will push temperatures into the 40 degrees Celsius.
In France too, around 800 firefighters, supported by six water bomber planes, were fighting two forest fires in the south-west, which have already caused the evacuation of thousands of campers, said the prefect of Gironde Fabienne Buccio .
In Portugal’s southern Algarve region, popular with tourists, authorities blocked access to the luxury resort and golf course of Quinta do Lago as thick plumes of smoke rose from a neighboring area.
“A fire enters an urban area, with a lot of dry vegetation which, with small sparks, quickly becomes a secondary fire. We are worried and that is what we tell people,” said Richard Marques, a police officer. civil protection in the area.
In the central district of Leiria, north of Lisbon, where temperatures soared to 45 degrees Celsius, authorities blocked a major highway. Flames and thick smoke were visible on both sides of the road, while helicopters and planes dropped water.
Villagers who were not evacuated poured water on the roofs of their houses.
Nearly 800 firefighters were fighting two active fires in the region, while across mainland Portugal 2,124 firefighters, supported by 28 aircraft, were battling 24 wildfires.
Almost all of mainland Portugal was on red alert for extreme heat conditions, with the highest temperatures of 45C in the central districts of Santarem and Leiria, the meteorological institute IPMA said. The country’s record temperature of 47.3 degrees Celsius was recorded in 2003.
EVACUATED CAMPSITES
More than 2,700 hectares have been burned so far in France’s Gironde region, Prefect Buccio told BFM TV. The larger of the two fires is around the town of Landiras, south of Bordeaux, where roads have been closed and 500 residents evacuated.
The other is along the Atlantic coast, near the iconic “Dune du Pilat” – the highest sand dune in Europe – located in the Bassin d’Arcachon region, above which heavy clouds Black smoke was seen rising into the sky.