On Monday, Portugal requested additional firefighting aircraft as at least 15 wildfires raged in central and northern regions, including one that destroyed houses on the outskirts of Albergaria-a-Velha.
Over 800 firefighters were combating that blaze and three others in the northwestern Aveiro district, where police closed motorways—including a section of the main highway connecting Lisbon and Porto—and evacuated several villages. Thick smoke from the fires, fueled by strong winds and high temperatures, enveloped the area. Authorities had deployed eight water-bombing aircraft in that district.
The government sought more aircraft from the European Commission through the EU civil protection mechanism, RescEU. Albergaria-a-Velha Mayor Antonio Loureiro informed Lusa news agency that the fire had burned down two houses and was spreading through the industrial and residential areas of the town, which has a population of around 25,000.
In total, officials reported that 1,500 firefighters were deployed nationwide, where temperatures exceeded 30 degrees Celsius over the weekend and were expected to remain high on Monday and Tuesday. Although Portugal and neighboring Spain have experienced fewer fires than usual due to a rainy start to the year, both countries remain susceptible to the increasingly hot and dry conditions attributed to global warming by scientists.
