A firefighter participating in the fight against fires in the north and center of Portugal died “In Service” Sunday, during a “Road accident”according to a press release from the Portuguese presidency. The accident also made “Two seriously injured” Among his colleagues, said Portuguese president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, paying tribute to their “Uninterrupted dedication”. This firefighter is the second fatal victim of fires this year in Portugal, after death Friday in Guarda, in the east of the country, of a former mayor who was fighting the flames.
Monday morning, some 2,000 firefighters were still hard at work to fight several homes in the north and center of the country. Arganil’s blaze, in the center of the country, alone mobilized a thousand firefighters. The government has also activated, like neighboring Spain, the European Union’s civil protection mechanism. The country is waiting for the arrival on Monday from two Swedish fire -fighting planes, while the Canadair sent last week by Morocco will remain mobilized until Wednesday, said Portuguese Minister of the Interior, Maria Lucia Amaral.
Portugal has extended the exceptional fire prevention measures until Tuesday, notably prohibiting access to certain forest areas or the use of fireworks. Since the beginning of the year, nearly 185,000 hectares have gone up in smoke, an area already greater than that of that burned in 2024 (around 136,000 hectares), according to provisional data from the Institut des Forêts.
“National pact in the face of climate emergency” in Spain
In Spain, a firefighter died in the northwest of the country following an accident, the government of the Castille-et-Léon region reported on Monday, bringing the number of deaths in the fires that have ravaged Spain for more than a week. The local government “Dressing death” a firefighter in the “Reversal” a vehicle carrying water, according to a message on the social network X.
The accident occurred when the convoy it belonged to this vehicle has moved away from the fire to take a very tilted forest path. “For an unknown reason, the vehicle has approached the embankment and swelled, falling on a slope of a high drop”added the local government.
More than 70,000 hectares have burned in Spain in recent days and more than 157,000 since the start of the year, according to the European Forest Fire Information System, constant increases. Faced with the magnitude of the devastation caused by fires in Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced Sunday “A national pact in the face of climate emergency”.
Experts consider that the multiplication of heat waves is one of the consequences of climate change. The Iberian Peninsula is strongly struck, with heat waves and droughts that promote forest fires.
