Portugal Wildfires

[NJFFSA16]

LISBON, June 19 (Reuters) - A forest fire raced through a
Portuguese village on Thursday sending five people to hospital
as the Iberian nation baked under temperatures expected to top
40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).
Strong easterly winds helped the blaze sweep through part of
Recarei, a village about 300 km (200 miles) north of Lisbon in
the Serra de Pias mountains. Two houses were destroyed.
"This was a really fast thing. In five minutes it went from
the top of the mountain to the houses," a Recarei resident told
private SIC television.
Five people were taken to hospital with smoke inhalation, a
spokesman for the National Fire-fighting Coordination Centre
said. Almost 150 firefighters were battling the blaze, one of a
rash of fires that have broken out in the heat wave.
Much of Portugal was baking under a mass of hot air
propelled by easterly winds from Spain, the national weather
service said. It forecast temperatures of 41 C (105.8 F) in
Lisbon on Thursday, close to a 22-year high of 43 C (109.4 F).
The heat combined with the Corpus Christi holiday to send
hundreds of thousands of people to Atlantic beaches. Highways
were jammed with cars under the blazing sun.

Reut10:26 06-19-03

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July 26th 2004

LISBON, Portugal (AP) - Portugal said Monday it was seeking help
from other European countries fighting wildfires that have
destroyed thousands of hectares (acres) of forest and wildlife
areas.
Blazes were burning in 14 of 18 districts across the Iberian
nation, where temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees
Fahrenheit) and strong dry winds have fueled flames.
Greece is contributing two firefighting planes Tuesday in
response to a request for help made to the European Union, said
Paiva Monteiro, head of the Civil Protection and National
Firefighters Service.
The service said the fire count across the country was four
times the number a year ago. They included a massive weekend blaze
in a nature reserve south of Lisbon that firefighters succeeded in
extinguishing momentarily Monday morning.
The fire at the Arrabida Natural Park, 50 kilometers (30 miles)
south of Lisbon, destroyed over 900 hectares (2,225 acres) of
wilderness on Sunday, raising concerns about the impact on
protected wildlife including wildcats and mongooses.
In a statement issued Monday, the League for Nature Protection
said the devastation at the park was "an irreparable loss for
biodiversity and nature." The Green Party called the damage
"incalcuable."
Several beaches in the area had to be evacuated Sunday and
remained closed to the public.
Elsewhere in Portugal on Monday, firefighters had brought
another large fire under control in the southern Algarve region of
Monchique. Six houses were razed, but no injuries were reported.
Some 1,400 people were involved in fighting eight other fires
still burning in the districts of Castelo Branco, Mafra, Santarem
and Vila Real, north of Lisbon, and in southern Faro and Monchique.
In 2003, fires in Portugal claimed 18 lives and destroyed a
record number of 336,000 hectares (820,000 acres) of forest and
bush.
Weather forecasts call for temperatures to remain high at least
until Thursday.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[budthespud]

Marseilles, France, evacuated 2000 people yesterday.

In '03, two dozen people died in Portugal's wildfires.

There is hope wildfires in Greece won't spoil the Olympics
experience, but there have been wildfires and one person
was recently killed in Athens as a result.

Greece is well-equipped and hopefully better-organized than
they were in '98, the last el Nino year, when 5 foreign
nations needed to help them, including with airplanes.

[NJFFSA16]

July 27th

CALDAS DO MONCHIQUE, Portugal (AP)- Columns of smoke drifted
over the skies of the Algarve beach and tourist area of southern
Portugal, and the chopping sound of helicopters provided the
soundtrack Tuesday to a third day of raging wildfires.
Spain and Italy joined Greece in sending planes to help douse
the flames, Home Affairs Minister Daniel Sanches said.
Eighty people had to be evacuated from the Monchique spa complex
in the southern Algarve after a blaze thought to be under control
erupted again.
The Agriculture Ministry said the Monchique fire destroyed two
houses and 800 hectares (2,000 acres) of eucalyptus and cork tree
forest.
Despite the damage, only one woman and two firefighters have so
far been injured. All were treated for burns.
Firefighters have curtailed the blazes only to see them rekindle
when winds pick up.
"Last night the fire arrived and everything burned. The
firefighters were able to save my house, but all our land outside
is charred and black," said Maria Amelia Varela da Silva, 60, who
lives about 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the Monchique mountain
area where the conflagration is strongest.
Flames soared skyward to a height of a four-story building
Tuesday morning, said a 62-year-old neighbor, who stayed in her car
ready to leave in case the fire came too close.
Temperatures passed 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) when the
largest fire cut the A22 Via do Infante highway near Tavira.
Sanches said there were four times as many fires in Portugal
this July compared to last year. Eight large fires were burning
after firefighters struggled to contain more than 20 outbreaks a
day earlier.
Spain was expected to send a Canadair water-dropping plane to
the southern Algarve areas of Alcoutim and Castro Marim, where the
fire has already consumed 10,000 hectares (24,710 acres) of forest
and agricultural land, the Agriculture Ministry said.
There was no word on the destination of the Italian aircraft.
Responding to Portugal's request for help Monday, Greece sent
two planes to the Beja air base in the southern Alentejo region.
Portugal's air force deployed a Cessna airplane while the army
planned to double to 500 the number of soldiers assigned to help
extinguish the fires.
A massive fire in the Arrabida Natural Park, 50 kilometers (30
miles) south of Lisbon, was mostly under control Tuesday.
But Portugal's League for Nature Protection described the
devastation at the park, where 700 hectares (1,700 acres) of land
have been scorched, as "an irreparable loss for biodiversity and
nature."
Another large fire, in the Santarem area of Torres Novas, about
100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Lisbon, destroyed close to 1,200
hectares (3,000 acres) of agricultural land, mainly olive groves,
and 170 hectares (420 acres) of forest in the Serra d'Aires Natural
Park.
Weather forecasts projected temperatures will top 38 degrees
Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) through Thursday.
In 2003, fires in Portugal claimed 18 lives and destroyed a
record 424,000 hectares (1,047,727 acres) of forest and bush, about
five percent of the country's surface terrain.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

APTV 07-27-04 1235EDT

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July 29th

Forest fires still blaze in Portugal, Spain
By JOANA MATEUS
Associated Press Writer
LISBON, Portugal (AP)- Firefighters were struggling to control
raging forest fires in Portugal on Thursday, while blazes across
the border in southern Spain were some of the worst seen in a
decade.
At least 14,000 hectares (34,594 acres) have burned to a crisp
in parts of the southern region of Andalusia since fires broke out
there two days ago.
"It has been the largest fire for the last 10 years in
Andalusia," said Ana Fernandez from Plan Infoca, the region's task
force against forest fires.
In Portugal, fires started Sunday in numbers and intensity that
recalled last summer when five percent of the country was smoking
before rains arrived in late August.
In the Algarve tourist and beach region along the Atlantic Ocean
west of the Gibraltar strait, several blazes joined to form a wall
of flames about 70 kilometers (44 miles) wide.
Hundreds of firefighters from both countries worked
round-the-clock to control the blazes, battled from the sky, too,
by planes dropping tons of water and fire suppressants.
Hundreds of hectares (thousands of acres) of eucalyptus and cork
tree forests and several houses were destroyed in Portugal, and
several hundred people evacuated from their homes.
More than 33,000 hectares (81,500 acres) of forest and
agricultural land has been lost to fires between January and July,
the government said in a statement.
On Wednesday the mayor of Almodovar, Antonio Sebastiao, told the
state news agency Lusa he was going to request that the area be
considered a disaster zone.
Last year, fires in Portugal destroyed 424,000 hectares (1
million acres), killed 18 people and damaged 2,500 buildings.
In Spain, some 400 firefighters worked through the night while
30 planes and helicopters tried to extinguish the flames, a
spokeswoman from the Seville city government said Thursday.
About 355 people were evacuated from their homes from Seville
area, mostly from the town of Madrono.
In the neighboring region of Huelva, close to 1,000 people were
evacuated to other towns, a spokesman for Huelva city government
said, and about 125 received medical treatment for smoke
inhalation.
The forest fires killed two people in Huelva on Tuesday.
Temperatures remained high at close to 40 degrees Celsius (104
Fahrenheit) which is common for Spain during the summer months.
"Weather-wise we are most likely to have problems related to
forest fires throughout the whole summer," said Rosa Prades, a
spokeswoman from the Madrid city government.
---
Associated Press reporter Seung Hwa Hong in Madrid contributed
to this report.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

4 firefighters killed

Four Portuguese firefighters die in forest blaze
LISBON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - A rare winter forest fire killed
four Portuguese firefighters on Monday, authorities said.
The four from the Coimbra fire brigade were among a group of
five battling a blaze in mountains near Mortagua, about 210 km
(130 miles) northeast of Lisbon, Coimbra Mayor Carlos Encarnacao
told private TSF radio.
"There was a shift in the wind and they were overwhelmed by
flames. One was able to get away, but four were caught in the
fire," Encarnacao said.
About 90 firefighters were fighting the blaze, backed by one
helicopter and 22 vehicles, the Lusa news agency said.
Portugal is suffering one of its worst droughts in 100 years
and the fire broke out on Monday during what is usually the
Iberian nation's rainy season.

Reut12:37 02-28-05