High temperatures in Portugal increase fires

The rise of temperatures (above 30ºC) in combination with low humidity, dry vegetation, poor forest cleansing and criminality has set the center and north of Portugal on fire. Since the beginning of this Sunday until 18:30h UTC, the Portuguese country registered 175 fires, having ten of them special relevance regarding the number of activity hours or fireman operating.

Many of these fires happen in places with almost no roads, poorly allowing the fire trucks to fight them. Also there is a common thought that they are set with criminal purposes, regarding economical revenues from burned forest.

These pictures were taken yesterday in a fire that occurred in Sª. Do Rosário, nearby Miranda do Douro, in a corktree forest.