Rain helping fight inferno

RAIN and calmer winds have helped firefighters tame a spate of deadly wildfires that broke out over the weekend, devouring homes and killing 41 people in Portugal and another four in northern Spain.

Portugal’s civil protection agency said the 15 biggest fires had been brought under control, but the death toll had risen. “We’ve gone from 37 dead to 41,” civil protection agency spokeswoman Patricia Gaspar said.

As the country began three days of mourning for the victims, the agency said 71 people had been injured in the fires, 16 of them seriously.