The firefighter died near having fought the forest fires directly in the commune of Sabugal. It is the fourth fire victim this summer in Portugal.
A firefighter died in Portugal after being injured by fighting one of the forest fires that rage across the country, the Portuguese presidency announced on Saturday 23 August in a statement.
The presidency expressed condolences to the firefighter’s family “who tragically lost their lives after having directly fought forest fires in the commune of Sabugal”, in the north of the country. It is the fourth fire victim this summer in Portugal.
According to Portuguese media, the 45-year-old firefighter worked for a private anti-fire-fired company.
Portugal, like its neighbor Spain where four people have also lost their lives, faces devastating fires that have burned more than 60,000 hectares despite a drop in temperatures that has improved the situation, according to civil protection.
Nearly 278,000 hectares who left for smoke
According to data from the European Forest Information System (Effis), nearly 278,000 hectares of land have burned for the start of the year in Portugal.
In 2017, more than 563,000 hectares had burned in fires that killed 119 people, a record year since the effis began recording this data in 2006.
The Iberian Peninsula is strongly affected by climate change which causes waves of heat and longer droughts, drying the vegetation and thus promoting forest fires, according to experts.