Swathes of Portugal’s mainland burns as Spain sends army to help

The area burned in mainland Portugal since Sunday now exceeds 106,000 hectares, with the government declaring a state of emergency and neighbouring Spain even sending its army to help fight the fires.

According to the European Copernicus system, the worst affected areas are in the regions of Aveiro, Tâmega e Sousa and Viseu Dão Lafões, with a total of 75,645 hectares burnt, 71% of the total area burnt in Portugal.

As well as the area burnt, the fires have also affected people: the Portuguese National Emergency and Civil Protection Agency (ANEPC) has recorded five deaths in the fires in the north and centre of the country over the past two days, and on Wednesday highlighted the existence of 118 injured people, 10 of whom are in serious condition.

“In terms of victims, from 16 to 18 September, we have a total of 123 registered and validated victims, including five fatalities, 10 seriously injured, 49 lightly injured and 59 victims assisted in the theatre of operations who did not need to be transported to hospital units," national commander André Fernandes told a press conference held at the ANEPC headquarters in Carnaxide.

The Portuguese government has declared a state of emergency in all the municipalities affected by the fires over the past few days, and the Prime Minister has called for an analysis of "the whole situation regarding the fires and their consequences" at a meeting chaired by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

At the same time, the Spanish government has sent 248 soldiers and 82 vehicles from the Military Emergency Unit (UME) to Portugal to help fight the fires, the Spanish Ministry of Defence revealed on Wednesday.

"The UME teams are already in Portugal, helping to extinguish the forest fires," the Spanish Ministry of Defence wrote on X.

Portugal's Interior Ministry told Lusa on Tuesday night that 230 Spanish firefighters from the UME, a military unit activated in emergencies, would arrive in Portugal early morning.

In addition to the 248 military personnel and 82 UME vehicles, Spain has sent two Canadair water-bombing planes to fight the fires as part of the European Civil Protection Mechanism.

(Margarida Pinto,  João Godinho,  Sara Madeira, Mariana Caeiro – edited by Pedro Sousa Carvalho | Lusa.pt)