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Hundreds Of Firefighters Battle Blazes Across Drought-Hit Portugal
Hundreds of firefighters on Tuesday battled 15 separate wildfires which raged out of control across drought-hit Portugal amid soaring temperatures, emergency services said. More than 150 firefighters tackled the largest blaze near the central town of Alcanena, which forced the closure for several hours of the nation's busiest highway linking Lisbon to the country's second city Oporto in the north. Firefighting teams were backed by four water-dropping aircraft and over 40 vehicles in their battle against the blaze, which has two fronts and threatens several homes, a spokeswoman for Portugal's civil protection unit (SNBPC) said. "They have had great difficulty due to a lack of access, high temperatures and a frequent change in wind direction," Gisela Oliveira told news radio TSF. Firefighters evacuated 31 residents of a retirement home near Malveira, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) west of Lisbon, to nearby hospitals because of the approach of flames from another blaze, private television TVI reported. Emergency workers were ordering residents from several other homes in the area to evacuate because of the threat posed by the wind-fueled fire, it added. Further south in the province of Algarve, one of Europe's top tourist destinations, nearly 100 firefighters backed by three aircraft struggled to put out the flames near Loule, some 20 kilometres from the resorts which dot the coast. Portugal is facing its worst dry spell since the 1940s, with the entire country classified as either suffering from a severe or extreme drought, according to agriculture ministry figures. Wildfires have destroyed nearly 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) of brush and forest so far this year, compared with an average of 19,639 hectares during the past five years, forestry department figures show. Six firefighters have been killed in 2005 and over 130 have been injured as they battled the flames. All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse. Related Links TerraDaily Search TerraDaily Subscribe To TerraDaily Express 
Spain Evacuates Dead Firefighters As Massive Forest Blaze Rages On
Guadalajara, Spain (AFP) Jul 18, 2005Emergency workers on Monday evacuated the bodies of 11 volunteer firefighters who died at the weekend in a massive forest fire in central Spain, as the blaze seemed to gain new strength.
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