{"id":347960,"date":"2025-08-16T01:32:29","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T01:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/347960\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T01:32:29","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T01:32:29","slug":"former-mayor-is-killed-trying-to-defend-portuguese-town-from-wildfire-inferno-as-apocalyptic-blazes-rip-through-europe-ravaging-spain-and-greece-turning-them-into-a-burning-hellscape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/347960\/","title":{"rendered":"Former mayor is killed trying to defend Portuguese town from wildfire inferno – as apocalyptic blazes rip through Europe, ravaging Spain and Greece turning them into a burning hellscape"},"content":{"rendered":"

The former mayor of a Portuguese town has died after trying to fight dramatic wildfires which have ravaged Europe including\u00a0Spain and Greece.<\/p>\n

President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa offered his ‘heartfelt condolences’ to Carlos Damaso, a victim of a fire he was fighting in his parish, asking that the current mayor\u00a0of Guarda pass them on to his family.<\/p>\n

Mr Rebelo de Sousa added that he had cut short his holidays and returned to the presidential palace, joining a meeting of the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority.<\/p>\n

For numerous days now, several thousand firefighters have been battling fires in various parts of the country.<\/p>\n

Like its neighbour Spain, Portugal has invoked the EU’s civil protection mechanism to ask for help, requesting four firefighting aircraft to use until Monday, the presidency said on X.<\/p>\n

Apocalyptic scenes have spread across Europe as dramatic wildfires bathe the countryside sickly orange, with blazes ravaging Portugal, Spain and Greece<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One horrifying photo taken in the\u00a0Sernancelhe district of\u00a0Viseu, Portugal, shows a raging inferno and dark clouds of smoke threatening to completely submerge a house in flames.<\/p>\n

The sky is completely amber as an angry blaze continues to tear its way through the forest, making the air thick with smog.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The former mayor of a Portuguese town has died after trying to fight dramatic wildfires which have ravaged Europe including Spain and Greece. Pictured:\u00a0Firefighters try to fight the forest fire in Vila da Ponte, Sernancelhe, Viseu, Portugal<\/p>\n

\"President <\/p>\n

President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa offered his ‘heartfelt condolences’ to Carlos Damaso (pictured), a victim of a fire he was fighting in his parish, asking that the current mayor of Guarda pass them on to his family<\/p>\n

\"Mr <\/p>\n

Mr Rebelo de Sousa added that he had cut short his holidays and returned to the presidential palace, joining a meeting of the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority<\/p>\n

\"For <\/p>\n

For numerous days now, several thousand firefighters have been battling fires in various parts of the country<\/p>\n

\"Nearly <\/p>\n

Nearly 4,000 firefighters are fighting seven major fires across the country, in Tabua\u00e7o, Trancos, Sirarelhos, S\u00e1t\u00e3o, Arganil, Vilarinho do Monte and Ermidas do Sado<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The sky is completely amber as an angry blaze continues to tear its way through the forest, making the air thick with smog<\/p>\n

Nearly 4,000 firefighters are battling seven major fires across the country, in\u00a0Tabua\u00e7o, Trancos, Sirarelhos, S\u00e1t\u00e3o, Arganil, Vilarinho do Monte and Ermidas do Sado.<\/p>\n

Authorities extended the state of alert until Sunday, amid high temperatures expected to last through the weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘We are being cooked alive, this cannot continue,’ said Vila Real Mayor Alexandre Favaios, where a fire had been burning for 10 days.<\/p>\n

It comes as\u00a0another heatwave pushes temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) across parts of Europe.<\/p>\n

Global warming is giving the Mediterranean region hotter, drier summers, scientists say, with wildfires surging each year and sometimes whipping up into ‘whirls’.<\/p>\n

Firefighters in\u00a0Spain<\/a>\u00a0and Greece<\/a> continued to battle wildfires<\/a> Friday on a public holiday in all three countries as persistent hot, dry conditions challenged efforts to contain the blazes.<\/p>\n

Spain was fighting 14 major fires. Temperatures were expected to climb over the weekend.<\/p>\n

‘Today will once again be a very tough day, with an extreme risk of new fires,’ Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez wrote on X.<\/p>\n

\"Fire <\/p>\n

Fire and clouds of smoke during a forest fire in Macieira, Sernancelhe, Viseu, Portugal, 15 August 2025<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The fire in Macieira continues to blaze since it ignited on 13 August in Satao, within the Viseu district, and has spread to the Sernancelhe district in Viseu and Aguiar da Beira in Guarda<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A woman with a hose tries to put out the fire during a wildfire in Santa Baia De Montes, northwestern Spain, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP Photo\/Lalo R. Villar<\/p>\n

\"Firefighters <\/p>\n

Firefighters and local residents continue to battle with forest fire that broke out in the Cualedro region of the province of Ourense, Spain on August 15<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A resident holds a water hose as he tries to extinguish a wildfire in Lamas, Cualedro municipality, Galicia region, Spain<\/p>\n

The national weather agency AEMET warned of extreme fire risk in most of the country, including where the largest blazes were burning in the north and west.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A heatwave which brought temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) on several days this month was expected to last through Monday.<\/p>\n

Fires in the Galicia region forced the closure of several highways. The high speed rail line connecting it to Spain’s capital, Madrid, remained suspended.<\/p>\n

The fires in Spain this year have burned 158,000 hectares or 610 square miles, according to the European Union<\/a>\u00b4s European Forest Fire Information System. That is an area roughly as big as metropolitan London<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Spanish authorities reported the death of a 37-year-old volunteer firefighter who sustained severe burns in an area north of Madrid this week. It was the third reported death in Spain due to the recent fires.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thousands of people were evacuated from their homes in the region and still can not return.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A man is assisted by residents after brething smoke, while they wait for help from emergency services in Vilar de Condes, in the province of Ourense in Galicia, Spain, August 15<\/p>\n

\"Local <\/p>\n

Local residents react in front of the fire during a wildfire in Santa Baia De Montes, northwestern Spain, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP Photo\/Lalo R. Villar)<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A heatwave which brought temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) on several days this month was expected to last through Monday<\/p>\n

\"This <\/p>\n

This recent photo taken from a French Canadair water bomber and provided Friday, Aug. 15, 2025 by the Securite Civile shows wildfire in Spain. (Securite Civile via AP)<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A fire approaches a farm during a wildfire in Santa Baia De Montes, northwestern Spain, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP Photo\/Lalo R. Villar)<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A resident in distress during a wildfire in Cualedro<\/p>\n

Temperatures reached 44 C (111 F) in some regions, according to meteorology service AEMET, with minimal rainfall and windy conditions expected to exacerbate the fire risk.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In both Spain and Portugal it was the Feast of the Assumption, a major Catholic holiday usually marked by family gatherings and religious processions.<\/p>\n

A wildfire in Greece burned out of control for a fourth day on the island of Chios, prompting several more overnight evacuations.<\/p>\n

Two water-dropping planes and two helicopters were operating in the north of the island in the eastern Aegean Sea, where local authorities said a lull in high winds was helping firefighters early Friday.<\/p>\n

Following a series of large fires in western Greece earlier this week, the Fire Service was on alert Friday outside Athens and nearby areas in the south of the country where adverse weather conditions elevated the fire risk.<\/p>\n

The fire service said a major blaze outside the southern port city of Patras has been contained on the outskirts of urban areas after a large-scale deployment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Temperatures <\/p>\n

Temperatures reached 44 C (111 F) in some regions, according to meteorology service AEMET, with minimal rainfall and windy conditions expected to exacerbate the fire risk<\/p>\n

\"Thousands <\/p>\n

Thousands of people were evacuated from their homes in the region and still can not return<\/p>\n

\"People <\/p>\n

People watch the fire and clouds of smoke during a forest fire in Macieira, Sernancelhe, Viseu, Portugal, 15 August, 2025<\/p>\n

\"This <\/p>\n

This recent photo provided by the Securite Civile shows two French Canadair water bombers flying over Spain. (Securite Civile via AP)<\/p>\n

Three people have been arrested in connection with the fire, which authorities said may have been deliberately set.<\/p>\n

A man also died in a fire in Albania, while a 61-year-old Hungarian seasonal worker is suspected to have died of heat-related causes while picking fruit in Lleida, in Spain’s eastern Catalonia region.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The spiritual leader of the world\u00b4s Orthodox Christians Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew expressed solidarity on Friday with the victims of wildfires in southern Europe during prayers for the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, an important religious holiday for Orthodox Christians.<\/p>\n

A drop in wind speeds on Thursday allowed firefighting aircraft in the three hard-hit countries to step up water drops, concentrating on existing fire zones rather than chasing fast-moving fronts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former mayor of a Portuguese town has died after trying to fight dramatic wildfires which have ravaged…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[92,2000,299,5187,1450,12,3046,104],"class_list":{"0":"post-347960","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-european","12":"tag-greece","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-portugal","15":"tag-spain"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115035868611463192","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}