Three people were killed, two seriously hurt and around a thousand forced to flee overnight as fires ravaged the Portuguese island of Madeira, rescuers said Wednesday.
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Approximately 40 homes in the upper part of the city and a 5-star hotel on a hill in an outlying area have been destroyed and the flames are now threatening the Baixa and church of San Pedro in the historic centre.
“Last night, the fire was a hundred metres away from the hotel and you could hear gas bottles exploding”, said Mr Ricardo Correia, manager of the Castanheiro hotel.
As the emergency continues in Madeira, Portugal sought help to deal with about 186 wildfires on the mainland, including 14 major blazes. “I am with you”.
Elsewhere in Europe, forest fires raged in Spain’s northwestern Galicia region near Portugal and in parts of France’s Mediterranean coast on Thursday, with the worst in nearly two decades burning around Marseille.
“The situation is complex but not catastrophic”, he told a press conference.
The fire caused chaos, panic and despair around Funchal.
A vast ball of smoke was seen above Funchal on Tuesday with the evening sky turned orange by the flames, prompting locals to photograph the scene from surrounding hills.
In southern France, more than 1,000 people were evacuated in several towns, notably Vitrolles, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) north of Marseille where some homes were burned down, and in nearby Pennes-Mirabeau.
An Italian plane has been mobilised, the European Commission said in a statement, adding to two planes deployed by Spain.
Dozens of reinforcement firefighters have been brought in from Lisbon and the Azores – Portugal’s other autonomous region – to battle the blaze.
Mainland Portugal has also been struck by a spate of forest fires since Friday with the north of the country, where temperatures have surged to 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit), particularly hard hit.
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Summer forest fires are common in Portugal, which in 2003 suffered its deadliest blazes, killing 19 people and destroying around 10 percent of the country’s forests on over 2,100 sq km.
