ZCZC
BFF-19
PORTUGAL-ENVIRONMENT-FIRE
More than 1,000 firefighters battle Portugal wildfires
AMENDOA, Portugal, July 21, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – More than a thousand
firefighters battled Sunday to control wildfires in central Portugal that
have forced village evacuations, in a region where dozens were killed in huge
blazes in 2017.
The firefighters were deployed to tackle three fires in the mountainous and
heavily forested Castelo Branco region, 200 kilometres north of Lisbon,
according to the website of the Civil Protection.
Around 20 helicopters and aeroplanes were involved in efforts to douse the
flames before nightfall made further flights impossible.
A civilian who suffered serious injuries and was evacuated by helicopter to
Lisbon, Luis Belo Costa, the commander of the civil protection for the region
said.
Four firefighters were also reported injured, and a further three were hurt
after their fire engine collided with another.
The army said in a statement it was dispatching twenty soldiers and
machinery to open routes “to facilitate access” for the firefighters.
Several national highways have been closed and a number of villages in the
region have been evacuated as a precaution, the civil protection said.
Belo Costa said he hoped to have the three fires under control by early
Sunday morning.
In a message President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa expressed his “solidarity
with the hundreds fighting the scourge of the fires.”
Portugal is still traumatised by the deaths of dozens of people in huge
blazes in 2017, with authorities taking extra precautions.
Fanned by strong winds, the fires had been spreading in three directions
since Saturday afternoon.
Six regions of central and southern Portugal have been placed on maximum
fire alert.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1039 hrs