Wildfires rage in Portugal and Spain as firefighters battle flames

LISBON: Hundreds of firefighters in Portugal and Spain are battling fierce wildfires as strong winds drive the flames closer to homes and villages, civil protection authorities said.

Roads have been closed, residents evacuated, and emergency crews stretched thin after a summer already scarred by deadly blazes across the region, according to the civil protection agency.

The largest fire raged in Seia, central Portugal, where 600 firefighters were deployed to tackle the flames, fanned by strong winds, and several roads had to be closed, the civil protection agency said.

The priority was “to protect homes,” the Lusa news agency quoted a civil protection spokesperson as saying. Police said they had arrested a person suspected of starting the fire.

In Spain, authorities confined the small village of Castromil in the northwest as a precaution on Saturday due to a nearby blaze.

The area had been hit hard by a wave of devastating fires in August. One blaze there revived on Saturday due to strong winds, a source in the nearby Castilla and Leon region’s environment ministry said.

Spain on Sunday ended a state of emergency that had been in effect for several weeks due to one of the worst waves of wildfires to hit the country in recent years. Four people were killed and more than 300,000 hectares burnt.

Central and northern Portugal were also ravaged in August by devastating wildfires that killed four people and caused several injuries.

The Portuguese fires destroyed about 254,000 hectares, the worst toll since 2017, according to data from the National Institute for Nature and Forest Conservation.

Portugal experienced its hottest summer since 1931 this year, the national meteorological agency said on Friday.