Thousands of firefighters battle forest blazes in Portugal

More than 4,400 firefighters battled hundreds of forest blazes of varying sizes across Portugal on Monday, authorities said, as the annual summer wildfire season hit a peak. The National Civil Protection Authority said on its website that by late afternoon almost 1,500 vehicles and 32 water-dumping aircraft were deployed at 702 wildfires, some of which have been burning for days.

A forest fire rages in La Palma on the Canary Islands, Spain. Spanish authorities have evacuated 500 more residents in the path of a five-day-old forest fire on the Atlantic island of La Palma. The regional government for the Canary Islands archipelago says the evacuation of two neighborhoods in the town of Villa de Mazo took place Sunday morning shortly after midnight as the fire spread through the hilly terrain. 

It classified eight wildfires in the north of the country as major blazes that were out of control. The fires spread quickly through mostly pine and eucalyptus forests that are tinder-dry after weeks without significant rain. Daytime temperatures in recent days have exceeded 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) and in some northern cities exceeded 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) on Monday.

Despite the dramatic scenes no injuries were reported, though some families had to evacuate their homes and some farm buildings burned down. Forest fires commonly occur in Portugal, and elsewhere in southern Europe, in the summer. Portuguese firefighters blame poor forest management for the destruction of large areas of woodland each year.

Three major wildfires blackened swaths of forest near Aveiro, some 200 kilometers (120 miles) north of Lisbon, where one blaze was advancing along a five-kilometer (three-mile) front. Further north in Porto, the country's second-largest city, district authorities activated an emergency plan granting authorities special powers such as the requisitioning of privately owned heavy machinery. More than 100 army soldiers were called out to help.

Meanwhile, in neighboring Spain, authorities said Monday that firefighters had managed to bring a six-day-old forest fire on the Atlantic island of La Palma under control and were allowing evacuated residents to return to their homes.

The regional government for the Canary Islands archipelago said the measure affected 500 residents evacuated a day earlier from the town of Villa de Mazo. The fire claimed the life of one forest worker and has destroyed more than 4,000 hectares (9,900 acres) of forest on the volcanic island off the northwest coast of Africa.

An unnamed 27-year-old German man admitted to police that he had started the fire accidentally by burning soiled toilet paper. Some 350 firefighters, supported by four planes and eight helicopters dumping water, were battling the fire.