Portugal has requested additional firefighting aircraft from the European Union, Spain and Morocco as the country faces an “exceptional situation” during a severe heatwave, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said on Friday.
The request comes as wildfires also strain emergency services in southern France, where thousands of people have been evacuated and large areas have burned.
Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said Portugal had asked for extra aircraft to be ready in case wildfires worsen in the coming days. He said the move was not due to a shortage of national resources, but because the entire country was facing a very high wildfire risk.
“We believe it is better to receive support from our EU allies and closest neighbours than to divert resources from other parts of the country where they are currently deployed,” Montenegro told a news conference.
Heatwave pushes Portugal into high alert
Lisbon activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism and bilateral agreements with Spain and Morocco.
Parts of mainland Portugal are under red weather warnings issued by the national weather agency IPMA, with temperatures crossing 40 degrees Celsius in some districts.
Mainland Portugal will remain under a state of alert until late Monday. Authorities have restricted access to some forest areas, banned forestry work using machinery and prohibited controlled burns by farmers.
More than 2,800 firefighters, supported by 864 vehicles and 32 aircraft, were battling six wildfires across Portugal on Friday. Civil protection authorities said the largest blaze was burning in the central district of Viseu.
France battles Mediterranean wildfires
In France, around 2,000 firefighters were battling several wildfires along the Mediterranean coast on Thursday, as strong winds and dry conditions worsened the situation after Europe’s recent heatwave.
Television images showed warehouses and a yacht on fire at a marina in Canet-en-Roussillon, near the Spanish border, while thick dark smoke spread over the beach.
Local authorities said 1,500 people were evacuated from campsites in the town, and the airport in nearby Perpignan was closed.
Fires near Marseille under control
Earlier in the day, firefighters brought two fires under control on the outskirts of Marseille, France’s second-largest city. However, they continued struggling to contain a larger blaze in the Aude administrative department.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu held a crisis meeting in Marseille, as his minority government faces a no-confidence vote in parliament on Monday over its handling of the heatwave.
France’s weather office has warned that another spell of extreme heat could hit next week.
Thousands of hectares burned in France
Lecornu said 8,700 hectares had burned in France so far this wildfire season, including 1,200 hectares on Wednesday alone.
The World Meteorological Organization warned last week that record temperatures in Western Europe in late June would worsen wildfire risks due to sustained heat, very low humidity and dry vegetation.
Industrial zone remains major concern
In Canet-en-Roussillon, four helicopters were deployed to fight the blaze, while three Canadair firefighting planes were placed on standby.
Pierre Regnault de la Mothe, the top official in the Pyrenees-Orientales department, said the main concern was the industrial zone, where many buildings could contain polluting substances and flammable materials.
To the east, the fire in Aude burned around 900 hectares, while winds of up to 70 kilometres per hour complicated the work of nearly 700 firefighters.
Health authorities estimate that the previous heatwave may have caused at least 1,000 excess deaths in France during record-breaking temperatures.
