MORE than 1,000 firefighters were yesterday battling a wildfire in central Portugal that has destroyed 7,000ha of land and slightly injured 11 people.

Temperatures were above 40 degrees Celsius in some regions of Portugal and authorities said wildfire risks would remain “very high or at maximum level across the entire country” over the coming days.

Around 7,000ha were destroyed in the district of Castelo Branco in the centre of the country but the commander of the firefighting operation, Jose Gulherme, said the potential risk from the blaze could be as high as “more than 20,000ha”.

“It’s a very extensive area with many isolated homes and villages,” he told journalists, adding that the fire perimeter already extended 60km.

Smoke and ash from the blaze, which started on Friday, had spread more than 130km east on Saturday to the town of Fatima, where Pope Francis was holding a service at a revered Catholic shrine with more than 200,000 pilgrims.

A further 400 firefighters were deployed to battle a separate wildfire in Odemira, near the southwest coast.

Civil security official Tiago Bugio said the flames in Odemira were being beaten back yesterday. Two fronts were still active but a third, which had been heading toward the southern tourist mecca of the Algarve, was now under control.

Authorities warned the risk of wildfires remained extremely high across the country.

In neighbouring Spain, at least five water bomber planes were deployed to a large-scale fire that threatened homes near the southern cities of Puerto Real and Cadiz, a popular tourist destination. 

On the northeastern coast of Spain, a blaze that started on Friday in Catalonia and destroyed nearly 600ha of land, was mostly under control yesterday despite strong winds.

The government’s early assessments suggest more than 1,000ha have been blackened by fires in Spain over the last three days. 

Temperatures in the southernmost Andalusia region approached nearly 40C yesterday and the country was bracing for a further heatwave today. – AFP, August 7, 2023.