Response to Portugal fire spurs anger

LISBON, Portugal — Firefighters and anxious residents braced Tuesday for a fifth straight night of battling a major wildfire that is racing across tinder-dry forested hills in southern Portugal.

The blaze is sending high plumes of smoke across the Algarve region’s famous beaches and bringing criticism of authorities for failing to halt the flames.

A seasonal wind from the north known as a “nortada” was driving the fire south toward Silves, a town of about 6,000 people. Several hundred people evacuated, and 29 were hurt, one seriously, officials said.

Nearly 1,200 firefighters supported by 16 aircraft and 358 vehicles were deployed around Monchique, a town of 2,000 people about 150 miles south of Lisbon, where the blaze came within 500 yards of the fire station there.

An unknown number of homes in the forested hills had burned down.

With so many resources deployed, many residents asked why the fire was still burning, especially after 95 percent of it was under control on Monday.

Firefighters publicly questioned the wisdom of the strategy to counter the flames, with some claiming poor organization was thwarting the operation. Monchique was identified as a high-risk area months ago.

Firefighting is coordinated by the Civil Protection Agency, a government body overseen by the Ministry for the Interior.

The National Association of Professional Firemen and the Professional Firemen’s Trade Union issued a statement saying the government’s recent reorganization of firefighting capabilities need to be reassessed. The organizations asked for a “very urgent” meeting with the minister of the Interior.

The minister, Eduardo Cabrita, told reporters authorities were switching coordination of the Monchique fire from the local Civil Protection Agency to the department’s national operational command in Lisbon.

Elsewhere, Spanish emergency services said a wildfire Tuesday near Valencia, on the Mediterranean coast, was almost under control after two dozen aircraft were brought in. The blaze forced the evacuation of around 2,500 people.

Dutch authorities evacuated four campsites as a brush fire swept through parched countryside in the eastern Netherlands. The regional security service said firefighters from three provinces were battling the blaze Tuesday in Wateren, 85 miles northeast of Amsterdam.