Portuguese firefighters grew cautiously optimistic on Thursday that they have dominated a fire that has engulfed the hills of the southern Algarve tourist region, which has burnt for a week through eucalyptus forests and forced hundreds to flee.
Rui Andre, the mayor of Monchique where the blaze flared up last Friday, said more than half of his municipality’s area of 39,500 hectares had burnt. The neighbouring municipality of Silves was also affected.
The fire started during an extreme heatwave that jolted Portugal out of a relatively cool summer and sparked instant memories of tragic fires last year - the worst on record - which killed 114 people.
Nobody has died so far this year as authorities have gone to great lengths to evacuate villagers as the flames approached through the thick forests in the hills above the Algarve coast.
A huge plume of smoke extended across the region, reaching all the way down to popular beach destinations on the coast.
Rui Andre, the mayor of Monchique where the blaze flared up last Friday, said more than half of his municipality’s area of 39,500 hectares had burnt. The neighbouring municipality of Silves was also affected.
The fire started during an extreme heatwave that jolted Portugal out of a relatively cool summer and sparked instant memories of tragic fires last year - the worst on record - which killed 114 people.
Nobody has died so far this year as authorities have gone to great lengths to evacuate villagers as the flames approached through the thick forests in the hills above the Algarve coast.
A huge plume of smoke extended across the region, reaching all the way down to popular beach destinations on the coast.
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