Portugal and France battled major wildfires on Sunday as temperatures soared this weekend.
In Portugal, a fire broke out in the Mafra area north of Lisbon, while in France at least four firefighters were seriously injured and motorways closed.
Around 400 firefighters were drafted to fight the fire around 40 kilometers north of Lisbon.
Local residents tried to slow the advance of the flames by hose-down their gardens, as the flames also swept through neighboring forests, according to TV images.
A retirement home with 30 people was evacuated as a precaution, commander Paulo Santos of the civil protection agency told Radio Renascenca.
Elsewhere, other major outbreaks raged in northern and central Portugal, requiring over 1,000 firefighters.
In central Ourem, a river beach was also evacuated as a precaution while two people suffered smoke inhalation, according to an emergency official quoted by the Lusa agency.
Parts of northern and central Portugal were put on alert this weekend amid “steep temperature rises” to more than 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) that are expected to last until at least Tuesday, according to the meteorological institute.
Experts blame climate change for the rising temperatures – and warn that worse is yet to come.
Portugal, still traumatized by the deadly fires in 2017 that killed more than 100 people, was also hit by a spate of fires in early July, fueled by searing temperatures.
More than 58,000 hectares have gone up in smoke since the beginning of the year, according to the latest, still preliminary, data from the Institute for Nature and Forest Conservation (ICNF).
Meanwhile, new fires broke out in south-eastern France on Sunday, with 350 hectares burning in Gard, where a firefighter was seriously injured, and hitting 35 hectares near Marseille, leading to the partial closure of motorways.
“Four firefighters are injured,” announced Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin in a tweet about the fire that broke out around 3pm in a pine forest in the town of Aubais, south of Nîmes.
One of them was “seriously injured” and had to be evacuated by helicopter to Montpellier’s hospital center with burns to his hands and face.
The others suffered minor injuries after the flames reversed from the wind partially destroying their vehicle, Eric Agrinier, who coordinated the operations, told AFP.
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