Friday, 18/08/2017 16:21 (GMT+7)
According to the Civil Protection Agency, this year's fires in Portugal have destroyed 141,000 hectares.
(Photo: AFP)
Firefighters have tackled more than 10,000 separate fires this year, 2,500 more than at the same period in 2016.
Already this month fires have injured 86 people, seven of them seriously, while authorities last week asked 40,000 people to leave the town of Abrantes.
Forest fires cut off a village of 2,000 people in Portugal, as firefighters struggled on Thursday (August 17th) to control two major blazes in the center of the country, local officials said.
Portugal has been especially hard hit by wildfires this year because of a widespread drought.
Wildfires in Portugal this year have accounted for more than one-third of the burnt forest in the entire 28-nation European Union.
In mid-June, wildfires near Pedrogao Grande in central Portugal killed 64 people and injured more than 250 others. In one incident, flames spread so quickly that some people died after being trapped in their cars as they tried to drive to safety./.
Compiled by BTA