Portugal and Spain wildfire survivors describe the horror

At least 36 people have died in fires ravaging forests in northern and central Portugal over the past 24 hours, rescuers said Monday, after five people were killed in Spain in blazes sparked by arsonists and fanned by Hurricane Ophelia.

The deaths, which were confirmed by Portugal’s national civil protection agency and included a one-month-old baby, come four months after 64 people were killed in the deadliest fire in the country’s history in June.

Survivors have described scenes similar to ‘the end of the world’ as more than 500 wildfires spread across the two countries throughout the weekend. 

‘Everything happened in 45 minutes, the fire came at the foot of the village and spread at an incredible rate,’ Portuguese resident Jose Morais said. ‘I had never seen anything like that before. It felt like the end of the world. Everyone fled.’

Fire and smoke were seen over Vieira de Leiria, Portugal, on Monday as a series of deadly wildfires broke out across Spain and Portugal as the approach of Hurricane Ophelia whipped up strong winds that fanned the flames 

Smoke and flames from a forest fire are seen near Lousa, Portugal, an area survivors described as ‘hell’ and ‘the end of the earth’

At least 36 people, including a one-month-old baby, have died in Portugal and four others were killed in Spain in blazes sparked by arsonists and fanned by Hurricane Ophelia throughout the weekend. Pictured above, Lousa, Portugal, during the blaze

The fires, which have ravaged Spain and northern and central Portugal hit just four months after 64 people were killed in the deadliest fire in the country’s history in June

Firefighters battle a forest wildfire next to Vilarinho village, near Lousa on Monday in Coimbra region, Portugal. The fires were fanned by winds from Hurricane Ophelia that were hitting the North West of the Iberian Peninsula

The 524 registered outbreaks of fire in Portugal, by far the most since 2006, were caused by ‘higher than average temperatures for the season and the cumulative effect of drought’, Portugal’s civil protection agency spokeswoman Patricia Gaspar said. Pictured above, firefighters work on a forest wildfire next to Vilarinho village, near Lousa

‘There are still places where security services have not yet managed to reach,’ Portugal’s civil protection agency spokeswoman Patricia Gaspar said, adding that the toll remained preliminary for that reason.

She said seven people were still missing due to the fires, which have also injured at least 63 people, including 16 critically.

In Portugal, as in the northwestern Spanish region of Galicia, temperatures were cooler on Monday and weather services forecast rain for Tuesday, but about 3,600 firefighters were still battling some 30 major fires in Portugal by evening.

In Spain, Galician authorities, who have declared three days of regional mourning alongside Portugal and the Spanish region of Asturias, said there were still 15 active fires representing a risk to the population and homes. 

Authorities have confirmed that a one-month-old baby is among the 36 dead in Portugal and there have been five deaths in Galicia. The death toll in Portugal is expected to rise to at least 38 with some people still missing.

Victims of the blazes include an elderly couple trapped in a car, a 19-year-old pregnant woman and two men who tried to save their father’s beekeeping business. 

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa reafirmed his pledges to prevent new tragedies by carrying out ‘fundamental reforms’ in forest management and firefighting

In Portugal, as in the northwestern Spanish region of Galicia, temperatures were cooler on Monday and weather services forecast rain for Tuesday

As of Monday evening, about 3,600 firefighters were still battling some 30 major fires in central and northern Portugal after putting out hundreds of blazes across the region

One of the worst hit areas in Portugal is near the city of Lousa (pictured above) in the Coimbra region, where 650 firefighters were battling blazes

Those who died were either trapped by the flames or were trying to put them out. One of the victims, aged 78, died whilst trying to save his animals.

The 524 registered outbreaks of fire in Portugal, by far the most since 2006, were caused by ‘higher than average temperatures for the season and the cumulative effect of drought’, Gaspar said.

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa reafirmed his pledges to prevent new tragedies by carrying out ‘fundamental reforms’ in forest management and firefighting.

‘After this year, nothing should remain as it was before,’ he said.  

One of the worst hit areas in Portugal is near the city of Lousa in the Coimbra region, where 650 firefighters were battling blazes.

‘We went through absolute hell, it was horrible. There was fire everywhere,’ a resident of the town of Penacova, near Lousa, told RTP television.

Two brothers in their 40s who were trying to put out the blaze there were among the fatalities.

In a village in the commune of Vouzela, in the northern district of Viseu, residents used water hoses to try to fight the flames as several homes were consumed. 

Fires run along a mountainside near Braga, Portugal, very close to a neighborhood of homes. Wild fires broke out in Santa Marta, Sameiro, Taipas and Braga Braga Fires, Portugal throughout the weekend and into Monday

People push a van that got stuck bringing water for volunteers to fight a wild fire raging near houses in the outskirts of Obidos, Portugal, in the early hours of Monday

People look at a forest fire in Ancares, Lugo, Spain. Four people have died in Spain as fires in Galicia burned more than 4,000 hectares. The blazes were aggravated with high temperatures and drought

A firefighter builds a firewall in an attempt to halt the progress of a forest fire in Tablado, near Muniellos park, Asturias, northern Spain

A house burns in the village of Pinheiro dos Abracos near Oliveira do Hospital, northern Portugal, on Monday. The blazes make 2017 the deadliest year on record for forest fires in the country

Police secure the entrance to a house (not in the picture) where allegedly three people died in the village of Vila Nova, near Vouzela, Portugal

In Vouzela, in the northern district of Viseu, residents used water hoses to try to fight the flames as several homes were consumed. Pictured above, a woman pours water over a burnt area in Vila Nova near Vouzela as wildfires continue to rage in Portugal

Fallen electricity pylons and abandoned cars were left lying in roads, the area surrounded by burnt pine and eucalyptus trees, as thick smoke clogged the sky.

‘Most of the victims were killed in their cars, but we also found them inside their houses,’ said the mayor of the town of Oliveira do Hospital, Jose Carlos Alexandrino, on public television RTP.

‘The whole city looked like a ball of fire, surrounded by flames on all sides,’ he said.

Portugal endures widespread forest blazes every summer. Most fires are set deliberately, officials say, and spread quickly due to poor forest management which leaves debris that fuels fires.

The government said it had called on EU members and Morocco to help in the firefighting efforts, but so far only Italy had agreed to send two water bombers due to arrive in the evening.

Even before the latest blazes, nearly 216,000 hectares (530,000 acres) had been consumed by wildfires across the country between January and September, according to estimates from the country’s forest service. 

In Galicia, on Spain’s border with Portugal, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy blamed arsonists for most of the deadly wildfires, which have caused three deaths in the country.

A burnt house stands next to others that were spared by a wildfire near Penacova, northern Portugal, on Monday. It is the second such tragedy to hit the region in just four months

Many victims of the fires died in their cars after getting trapped in blazes. Pictured above, a burnt car in which an elderly couple was killed lies by the side of the road at the entrance of a small tunnel where it was caught by a wildfire in the village of Relvas near Santa Comba Dao, northern Portugal

Carlos Martins, 61, stands among burnt cars in his car paint shop in the village of Pinheiro dos Abracos near Oliveira do Hospital, northern Portugal, on Monday

Inocencia Rodrigues, 64, walks among the debris of the burnt shed where she raised chickens and pigs in the village of Sao Joaninho near Santa Comba Dao, northern Portugal, on Monday

People look at a forest fire in O Carballino, Orense, Galicia, Spain. In Spain, Galician authorities, who have declared three days of regional mourning, said there were still 15 active fires representing a risk to the population and homes

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, left, meets emergency personnel after a wildfire in Pontevedra, in the northwestern Spanish region of Galicia, Spain on Monday

‘What we are experiencing here does not happen by chance, this was provoked,’ he said after observing a minute’s silence for the victims in the town of Pazos de Borben.

Hundreds of firefighters backed by water-dropping helicopters and planes were battling 19 large wildfires in Galicia on Monday, the regional government said in a statement.

‘Galicia is not burning by itself. Galicia is being burned,’ said Alberto Nunez Feijoo, head of the regional government, blaming ‘terrorist arsonists’.

Spain’s Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido said on his Twitter site: ‘Those who are the cause of this barbarity will pay for putting at risk so many lives and destroying our natural heritage.’ 

Five wildfires near Vigo, Galicia’s biggest city, forced the evacuation of a shopping mall and a Peugeot Citroen car factory on the outskirts of the city, though workers were able to return to the factory on Monday.

The city of around 300,000 residents has opened up two sports centres and booked rooms in three hotels for people who had to evacuate their homes. 

Two women died on Sunday after being engulfed in flames trapped in their van near Nigran, outside Vigo, and an elderly man died in an animal shed near his house in Carballeda de Avia.

Hurricane Ophelia swept past Spain before being downgraded to a violent storm on Monday as it battered Ireland.

Meteorologists said Ophelia was the most powerful hurricane recorded so far east in the Atlantic and the first since 1939 to travel so far north.

MADONNA AND CRISTIANO RONALDO SHOW SUPPORT FOR PORTUGAL AND SPAIN AFTER DEADLY WILDFIRES

Celebrities including Madonna and Cristiano Ronaldo have showed their solidarity with those affected by wildfires that have killed 40 people across Spain and Portugal over the last week. 

Madonna, currently living in Lisbon, posted a photo of a burning forest on her Instagram alongside the message: ‘The fires in Portugal and Spain have raged once again wreaking havoc and taking many lives.

‘Let us pray for the lives lost, for the wounded, for the sorrow of their families and finally for the devastation of Mother Nature.’

Madonna, currently living in Lisbon, posted a photo of a burning forest on her Instagram alongside the message: ‘The fires in Portugal and Spain have raged once again wreaking havoc and taking many lives

She showed her solidarity with those affected by the wildfires as the death toll continued to increase following the death in hospital of a 48-year-old male burns victim.

Real Madrid striker Ronaldo, who comes from Madeira, also posted a message on his Facebook page saying: ‘It’s impossible to remain indifferent to this tragedy. Solidarity with the relatives and friends of the victims.

‘Full support for firefighters who risk their live to help in the best way possible.’

The dead include a one-month-old baby whose parents were also killed and a pregnant 19-year-old.

Real Madrid striker Ronaldo, who comes from Madeira, also posted a message on his Facebook page saying: ‘It’s impossible to remain indifferent to this tragedy. Solidarity with the relatives and friends of the victims

Fifteen of the 63 injured are said to be ‘serious.’ Rescue teams are still searching for several missing people.

Rain has helped to put out most of the 523 fires which raged across north and central Portugal on Sunday, just four months after 64 people were killed in wildfires which started in the town of Pedrogao Grande near the university city of Coimbra.

A handful of fires were still being fought on Monday in Spain’s north west region of Galicia bordering Portugal where five people were killed.

They included two women OAP friends who died when a burning pine tree fell on top of their van. 

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