Forests are burning in Europe. Four firefighters are injured during extinguishing work in France. At the same time, concerns about the upcoming heat wave are increasing. Portugal is also fighting the flames in several regions.
Several forest fires have broken out again in France and Portugal. According to the fire brigade, four emergency services were injured in a fire in the south-eastern French department of Gard, one of them seriously. The firefighter was taken to the hospital with burns. In Portugal, around 400 firefighters were deployed in a fire north of Lisbon.
The fire in south-east France destroyed around 350 hectares. "We are confident that we can contain the fire by tomorrow," said fire department spokesman William Borelly in the evening. South of Nîmes, the A9 motorway to Spain had to be partially closed due to heavy smoke. According to the Vinci motorway company, the route is passable again.
According to the authorities, another fire that had spread to around 35 hectares was contained near Marseille in the evening. France faces another heat wave next week. 35 to 39 degrees are expected in the south of the country on Monday. The heat wave is expected to peak on Wednesday with peaks of up to 40 degrees in the southwest. In mid-July, two massive forest fires destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of land on the Atlantic coast in south-west France.
The fire brigade was also on duty in Portugal due to several forest fires. A larger fire broke out near the small town of Mafra north of Lisbon, according to the civil protection authority. Around 400 firefighters fought the flames there. A retirement home with 30 residents had been evacuated as a precaution, said Paulo Santos, spokesman for the civil protection authority, the radio station Renascença.
More than a thousand firefighters were deployed to deal with other fires in the north and center of the country. Temperatures rose sharply in these regions over the weekend. A warning has been issued for part of northern and central Portugal due to temperatures exceeding 40 degrees. According to the Portuguese Meteorological Institute, the heat will last until at least Tuesday. According to preliminary data from the nature conservation institute ICNF, more than 58,000 hectares of land have already gone up in flames in Portugal since the beginning of the year.
