Wildfires rage in Portugal as temperature reaches record high

Firefighters are battling a four-day long fire in central Portugal, with the wildfire erupting amidst a sweltering European heatwave - one that has also triggered weather alerts along the Iberian Peninsula.

Some 20 inland villages were evacuated on Monday, which brings the total number of displaced persons since Saturday up to over 1,500. Almost 2,800 firefighters and 16 water-bombers have been deployed nationally, and over 40 people, including 28 firemen, have been given emergency medical treatment due to injuries from the wildfires.

Massive forest fire due to extreme heat in Portugal 🇵🇹

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Santarem, central Portugal, saw 46.4 degree celsius heat on Monday, a record for 2023. Nearby Spain has predicted temperatures of over 44 degrees celsius today and Wednesday, August 9. The third heatwave this year, Wednesday would mark its most intense day.

The toll these wildfires have had on the land is immense - thousands of hectares of land have already been burned in southwestern Portugal, bringing to the total amount of land that has been destroyed across the Iberian Peninsula this year to over 100,000 hectares. Last year, a record 400,000 hectares of land were destroyed by wildfires.

Despite Portugal's civil protection authority declaring that a perimeter of the wildfire had been stabilised on Monday night, they warn that "two critical points" still exist as they work to put out the fires.

It's unclear how long the wildfire will last, but firefighters will have a hard time battling the dry, sweltering conditions that led to the wildfires starting in the first place.