Portugal brings deadly forest fires under control

LISBON: Portugal has brought under control the remaining forest fires it battled this week in the north of the country, rescuers said on Friday.

The wildfires, which sprang up over the weekend fed by crushing heat and strong winds, killed five people, four of them firefighters. Around 100 people were injured, 14 of them seriously.

“All the situations that were still active yesterday and today at dawn have been brought under control,” National Civil Protection Commander Andre Fernandes said at a press briefing.

Four blazes engulfed the Aveiro region, south of the city of Porto, across a front of around 100 kilometres (60 miles) and ravaged 20,000 hectares (49,400 acres) of land, the EU´s Copernicus climate monitor estimated on Thursday.