Heat wave eases in Portugal, wildfire rages on
Lisbon hits 44˚ • California blaze claims seventh victim, Trump declares ‘major disaster’
LISBON (Reuters) – Temperatures in Portugal, at the crest of a European heat wave, began to ease from near record levels on Sunday, but a forest fire raged for a third day in the south, battled by 800 firefighters and 12 aircraft.
The heat wave has brought drought and wildfires to Europe from Greece, where 91 people died in a fire in July, to Sweden. In parts of Portugal temperatures climbed to nearly 47 degrees Celsius on Thursday and Saturday, just off the country’s record of 47.3˚ and Europe’s high of 48˚ set in Athens in 1977.
Flames have consumed more than 1,000 hectares of forest, an area the size of over 1,200 soccer fields, in the hilly Monchique area in the southern Algarve region popular with tourists. Authorities deployed 130 soldiers to help with the efforts.
“It’s a terrible setting and considering the weather conditions it will not get better today,” said civil protection commander Col. Manuel Cordeiro.
Wildfires last year killed 114 people in Portugal’s worst such tragedy on record and authorities were this time quick to evacuate more than 100 people from several villages around Monchique. TV footage showed burned out cars and charred buildings the villagers had left behind.
Six people were hurt while trying to escape another blaze in Estremoz near the Spanish border on Saturday, authorities said. That blaze has since been put out.
Firefighters from Portugal and Spain were battling a fire which had engulfed dry trees and shrubs near Badajoz in southwestern Spain and Spanish authorities issued a warning that the entire southern region of Extremadura is at an extreme risk of wildfires.
In Lisbon, the temperature hit a record 44˚ on Saturday, almost emptying the city streets normally teeming with tourists. The weather service IPMA predicted 42˚ in the capital on Sunday and a maximum of 44˚ in the central-east interior. Most regions remain on red alert for fires and heat stroke until Monday. By Tuesday, the temperature is expected to drop below 40˚.
Hot air from North Africa has caused the most severe heat wave in Iberia since 2003, one of the worst years on record for forest fires.
The longest drought in decades has been drying out rivers in the Netherlands. Wheat fields have been devastated across northern Europe, driving up prices.
In France, high temperatures registered in the Rhone and Rhine rivers, from which three nuclear power plants pump their water for cooling, led to a temporary shutdown of four reactors.
Three men died last week in Spain as a result of soaring temperatures, two in the southeastern region of Murcia and one in Barcelona, emergency services said. Two people were injured and six homes damaged in a forest fire near Madrid on Friday.
Meanwhile, a seventh person died in a northern California wildfire on Saturday, as a couple of other fast-growing wildfires in the state expanded by more than 25% overnight and continued to spread.
The White House announced on Sunday morning that US President Donald Trump declared that a major disaster exists in California, a move that makes it easier for residents, businesses, cities and counties to gain access to federal money, food aid and other programs.
“Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property loses and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster,” the White House said.
More residents were ordered to evacuate their homes this weekend as weary firefighters endured high temperatures and gusting winds.
The Carr fire, 261 km. north of Sacramento, claimed the life of a power company lineman Saturday, according to a CBS affiliate, citing a spokesman for the PG&E Corporation. Neither a spokesman with the electric company nor fire officials were immediately available for comment.
The fire, one of the most destructive in California history, had already killed six people, including a great-grandmother and two children, and a firefighter and bulldozer operator.
Two other blazes collectively called the Mendocino Complex burned in Mendocino, Lake and Colusa counties, about 120 km. north of San Francisco. The River and Ranch fires had grown to cover a total of 92,600 hectares by late Saturday, and were considered 32% contained.
This year, California wildfires have burned more land earlier in the “fire season” than usual, said Ken Pimlott, Cal Fire director, during a news conference on Saturday.
“Fire season is really just beginning. What seems like we should be in the peak of fire season, historically, is really now the kind of conditions we’re seeing really at the beginning,” said Pimlott.
California Governor Jerry Brown, who visited some of the burned areas on Saturday, said, “This is part of a trend, the new normal, that we’ve got to deal with.”