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Fires ravage southern France, Portugal, 4 dead, 1000s flee

Meanwhile, France mobilised 1,500 firefighters on Wednesday to tackle wildfires in the countryside north of Marseille that have gutted buildings and forced more than 1,000 people to flee their homes.

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Two arrests were made in the deadliest Portuguese fire, on the island of Madeira, that killed three people.

Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Tuesday he would request assistance from other European countries and Russian Federation if the blazes do not abate by next Monday.

Aurelien Dutrievoz, who lives in a neighborhood in east Funchal, filmed nervously as huge plumes of smoke billowed over residential areas from fires he estimated were about 5-8 kilometers (3-5 miles) from his home. With winds still high, authorities said Thursday the danger was not over for some nearby French towns but the fires were under control. One of the seriously injured patients has been flown to the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, for treatment.

Holidaymakers from Britain and Germany had to be evacuated from their hotels and were being put up by local authorities, diplomatic sources said.

By Wednesday, after a rough night, they checked into another hotel to continue the vacation they had planned for six months.

In this photo late Tuesday, Aug. 9 2016, firefighters battle a fire that reached the old center of Funchal, the capital of Portugal’s Madeira island.

Portugal’s President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, is to visit Madeira Wednesday, while the Prime Minister, Antonio Costa, will visit affected municipalities tomorrow, the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

Accoridng to RTE, Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has donated $100,000 dollars in financial aid to his fire gutted home home land Madeira.

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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.

Computer model projection for temperature departures from average on Sunday