Portugal wildfires burn 139,000 hectares by mid-August

The ICNF said 74,931 hectares had burned between Jan. 1 and Aug. 14. By Saturday, the figure had surged to 139,091 hectares, with 64,160 hectares consumed in the past two days alone - 46 percent of the year's total.

LISBON, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Around 139,000 hectares of land have burned in Portugal so far this year, with almost half of the total destroyed in just the past two days. This is 17 times the area burned during the same period last year, according to provisional data released Saturday by the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF).

The ICNF said 74,931 hectares had burned between Jan. 1 and Aug. 14. By Saturday, the figure had surged to 139,091 hectares, with 64,160 hectares consumed in the past two days alone - 46 percent of the year's total.

A total of 6,229 rural fires have been reported to date: 50 percent scrubland, 40 percent forest, and 10 percent farmland. Compared with the same period last year, the number of fires has risen by 79 percent, the ICNF noted.

Portugal has been under alert for wildfire risk since Aug. 2. The European Commission said Saturday that two firefighting aircraft requested by Portugal will arrive on Sunday.

The country also reported its first wildfire fatality of the summer on Friday. Local authorities confirmed that the charred body of the former parish council president of Vila Franca do Deao, in the Guarda district, was found after he died while battling the flames, according to local media.

The National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection said that, as of 12:30 p.m. Saturday, 44 wildfires remained active across Portugal. ■