AMENDOA (Portugal), July 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Planes and helicopters joined nearly 2,000 firefighters in central Portugal to battle huge wildfires in a mountainous region where more than 100 people died in huge blazes in 2017.
Some 1,700 firefighters and 400 vehicles were deployed in one of the biggest mobilisations ever seen in the area to fight the blazes in the heavily forested Castelo Branco region, 200 kilometres north of Lisbon, the rescue services said.
Around 20 people have been injured in the blaze, including eight firefighters and 12 civilians, according to the interior ministry.
One badly burned civilian was evacuated by helicopter to Lisbon.
The biggest effort – 800 firefighters, 245 vehicles and 13 planes and helicopters – battled to douse flames in the municipality of Vila de Rei.
That fire “remains active”, Interior Minister Eduardo Cabrita told journalists. — NNN-AGENCIES
