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| 2003/08/03 |
Portugal seeks help to battle fires
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11:02:04 �.�
Lisbon, Aug 3 - Portugal Saturday sought help from fellow EU members to battle devastating forest fires as blazes flared in neighbouring Spain and in France exhausted firefighters prayed that a respite would last.
Much of Europe has been suffering from low rainfall and high temperatures in recent weeks and flames have torn through parched forests and scrubland.
Portugal's Interior Minister Antonio Figueiredo Lopes appealed to European countries for airborne support to help the hundreds of firefighters struggling to contain the blazes amid a heatwave across the country.
Two people have been killed since the fires erupted in Portugal last Sunday, engulfing large swathes of the country as it swelters under temperatures topping 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees fahrenheit).
"It is one of the most serious catastrophes in the past 20 years," said the minister, who visited one of the affected areas.
Some 1,500 firefighters were battling the flames with the help of 350 fire engines and helicopters, and residents had to be evacuated from six villages in the region ahead of the encroaching fire.
About one-third of Portugal is covered by forest and each year thousands of trees are lost to flames during the country's hot, dry summers.
There have been some 1,700 forest fires in the country so far this year, destroying more than 26,000 hectares of brush and trees, according to forest service figures released Friday.
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