Three people have died, including an elderly woman, and thousands of people have been evacuated after a wildfire spread across the Portuguese island of Madeira.
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More than 300 people have been treated for minor burns and smoke inhalation.
Smoke from forest fires rises above Funchal, the capital of Portugal’s Madeira island, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016.
Forest fires sweeping across Portugal have forced hundreds of people to flee their homes.
Portuguese police said a man has been arrested on suspicion of starting the fire. Daytime temperatures in recent days have exceeded 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) and in some northern cities exceeded 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) on Monday.
On Tuesday evening, Portugal’s civil protection service said more than 4,000 firefighters were attending to 150 separate blazes, with seven major fires now out of control. The flames have also been stoked by strong winds, according to the official.
Firefighter department of the fire service reports it become nearly impossible to quench the fire quickly and especially on time because of the steep hills and dense woodland of Madeira terrain. More than 200 patients were evacuated from a small hospital as a precaution, authorities said. There were 186 wildfires on the mainland by late afternoon Wednesday, and fire chiefs said their crews were exhausted.
In the area around Viseu, 180 miles (290km) north of the capital, Lisbon, a wildfire forced the closure of a major highway.
He said reinforcements, including firefighters and doctors, are due to arrive later on Wednesday from the Portuguese mainland.
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The fire in Funchal was mostly under control, regional governor Miguel Albuquerque told a televised news conference, but several were still raging across the island.
