A man was killed while helping fight wildfires that have been scorching Portugal, the country's civil protection service has said, bringing the death toll from the fires to three.
The man, who worked for a company hired to help the northern municipality of Mirandela fight the fires, died in an accident involving construction equipment that was being used to contain the flames, commander Paulo Santos of the National Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC) said.
The victim was initially cited as being 75 years old, however local city hall officials said he was 65.
Around 15 people were also injured - one critically - while fighting fires yesterday near the central city of Sabugal, where two water-bombing airplanes sent by Sweden through the EU's civil protection agency were deployed.
Crews were still battling four large fires on this morning, the most complex of which were raging in the north and centre of the country.
Watch: Satellite images show rapid spread of wildfires across Iberian Peninsula
Over 2,600 firefighters have been deployed, supported by about 20 aircraft.
In neighbouring Spain, wildfires have killed four people and burned a record area of land this year - around 373,000 hectares, the equivalent of nearly half a million football fields.
The fires have been fuelled by heatwaves and drought blamed on climate change.
Since the start of the year, more than 261,000 hectares in Portugal have been destroyed by fires, according to the European Forest Fire Information System, compared to 143,000 hectares in 2024.
In 2017, Portugal saw a particularly devastating fire season, with 563,000 hectares scorched and 119 people killed.
Watch: Spanish military firefighters battle overnight blazes across the country
Spanish military emergency unit firefighters continued to battle different blazes overnight and into this morning in Galicia, Extremadura and Castilla y León regions.
Southern Europe is experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons in two decades, with Spain and Portugal among the hardest-hit countries.
The fires have spread over the regions of Extremadura, Galicia, and Castile and León, forcing authorities to suspend rail services and cut access to roads in the area, as well as blocking a 50km stretch of the popular Camino de Santiago pilgrimage trail.
Data from the European Forest Fire Information System showed the fires have burned vegetation on 38,000 hectares since Monday, just below 42,000 hectares during the whole of 2024.
However, the national weather agency, which on Monday declared the end of one of the longest heatwaves in the past five decades, now expects temperatures to fall and humidity to rise.
Accreditation: AFP/Reuters
