ATHENS: Hundreds of firefighters battled fires in Portugal, Greece and Spain on Sunday, with Spain and Italy sending reinforcements to Portugal to help with a massive blaze that has been burning for more than three days.
Authorities asked residents in parts of Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city, to stay indoors and close their windows and doors because of toxic fumes from a burning recycling plant that was engulfed in a fire.
Another large fire broke out on Sunday afternoon west of the Greek capital, Athens. The fire department said 210 firefighters, supported by volunteers, specialist teams and 29 aircraft, including water jets and helicopters, were deployed to fight the fire burning in the pine forest in the Mandra area. Authorities were racing to control the flames before nightfall, when planes can no longer carry out firefighting operations.
In the central Portuguese area of Vouzela, more than 1,200 firefighters supported by nearly 400 vehicles and 15 aircraft tried to put out a fire that broke out on Thursday, according to the Civil Protection authority. The fire had burned 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) by Sunday, data from the European Union’s Copernicus satellite mapping agency showed.
The EU’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid said Spain sent 120 firefighters and 45 vehicles as reinforcements to Portugal on Friday, while three firefighting planes from Italy and Spain were also sent to help.
By Sunday afternoon, the fire appeared to be dying down somewhat, with Portuguese media citing officials as saying there were no longer any major active fronts, but that some hot spots remained.
In Spain, a fire that had been burning since Friday in the northeastern region of Girona had burned about 2,200 hectares (5,400 acres), the EFE news agency said. Catalan Fire Service chief of operations Eduard Martinez said the fire had a perimeter of 40 kilometers (25 miles) and firefighters may not be able to bring it under control on Sunday, EFE said.
