Flames licked at homes around Funchal, casting a plume of smoke over the centre, according to video broadcast by cable news channel SIC Notícias.
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Three people have died in raging forest fires on Portugal’s holiday island of Madeira where flames damaged homes and a hotel and forced around 1,000 people to flee. He says more than 300 people have required medical treatment for smoke inhalation and minor burns.
More than 3 000 people have been battling to contain roughly 100 fires across the country with 12 major blazes leading to the evacuation of local residents overnight.
The Hotel Choupana Hills has also been evacuated due to the fire, which has been spreading due to strong wind.
Funchal, which has a population of 111,000, is a big tourist destination.
But the official has also brought to the notice of people that the month of August is a windy period in Madeira whereby the temperature is quite high, and the wind blows strongly which could lead to the widespread of a little fire spread.
Tuesday, the government had said and elderly bed-ridden person had been killed when their house caught fire.
Other wildfires have raged for several days on the Portuguese mainland. Portugal’s authorities have not ruled out that they could ask Russian Federation to provide assistance in putting out wildfires raging in the country, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Wednesday.
Funchal’s fire began during a summer heatwave, with temperatures reaching 35 degrees Celsius, or 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
Madeira attracts more than a million visitors a year as tourism is the mainstay of its economy.
Fire service officials said Madeira’s steep hills and dense woodland made it hard to reach the flames.
A man is being held on suspicion of lighting three fires in the Sao Roque neighborhood of northern Funchal, he said, while three others have been arrested for trying to light additional fires while the main blazes were being fought.
Reinforcements, including firefighters and doctors, arrived Wednesday from the mainland and Portugal’s mid-Atlantic Azores Islands.
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Mr. Albuquerque told reporters that fires encroaching on Funchal were now under control and cooler temperatures forecast for Wednesday should ease the situation.
