Forest fires rage in Spain and Portugal
Pastor Dale Morgan
Forest fires rage in Spain and Portugal*
(Filed: 06/08/2006)
Firefighters in Spain and Portugal are tackling new forest fires after
bringing dozens of others under control in the last two days, officials
have said.
Thousands of hectares of forest in Spain's northeastern region of
Galicia went up in smoke on Friday and Saturday and a number of blazes
are still raging, a regional government spokesman said.
Twenty-six forest fires were brought under control but another 22 were
still active, she said.
In northern and central Portugal, some 500 firefighters were deployed
early this morning to battle seven forest fires, three of which had
begun overnight in searing temperatures, rescue services said.
A major fire has been brought under control after raging since Friday in
Aguiar de Sousa, near the northern town of Paredes, they said.
The last four summers have seen fires devour some 2.1 million acres of
forest land in Portugal.
Temperatures were expected to reach 42C in Santarem, north of the
capital Lisbon.