Firefighters battle wildfires in Portugal as thousands forced to evacuate
Portuguese authorities fear new wildfires could spark as blistering 37C heat has provoked extreme weather warnings.
Yellow warnings - the lowest level on a three-tier scale - will remain in place across the Beja and Faro districts until 10 August at the minimum, with the Met Office anticipating that, on Friday, temperatures will reach highs of 37C across Faro in the Algarve region of southern Portugal.
Vitor Vaz Pinto, regional commander of the emergency and civil protection authority (ANEPC), said on Wednesday the wildfire in the municipality of Odemira, in the Alentejo region, was brought under control at 10.15am.
The wildfire started on Saturday, but high temperatures and strong winds hampered efforts by more than 1,000 firefighters and water-dousing planes to extinguish the flames, which destroyed some 8,400 hectares, according to preliminary data.
For now, firefighters, water-dousing planes and bulldozers being used to prevent the spread of the fire will remain on the ground and then gradually be demobilised, Vaz Pinto said.
Temperatures have now dropped along the Portuguese coast but remain high across the countryside, with around 100 municipalities remaining at maximum risk of wildfires.
The biggest blaze, in the northeast, burned about 600 hectares (1,500 acres) and required the evacuation of 150 people.
