Nato asked for help to put out fires

Portugal requested Nato to provide firefighting aircraft yesterday as the death toll from a series of forest fires reached 14.

It asked Nato to provide it with up to six Canadair water-dropping aircraft and three helicopters and crews. The government declared a national disaster on Monday.

Yesterday firefighters found the burnt bodies of a man and woman in a field near Freixo de Espada a Cinta, in the north-east. A man from the village of Sobral da Adica in the southeast died in hospital after being rescued from a blaze.

The number of fires burning across the country was down yesterday after a week in which some 54,360 hectares (135,000 acres) of woodland went up in smoke.

Antonio Gualdino, duty officer at the national rescue operations centre, said 2,324 firefighters supported by 536 vehicles as well as aircraft were fighting seven fires nationwide.

But he warned that the situation could worsen again as temperatures in inland areas headed towards 40C (104F) in the shade.

A fire near Serta, a town in the central mountains about 110 miles north-east of Lisbon, was still out of control yesterday as 200 firefighters battled to keep the blaze away from people's homes.

The smoke from the fires is so thick in areas that aircraft are unable to fly over them.

Portugal has also asked the EU for emergency financial aid. Some 1,200 miles of power lines have reportedly been damaged by the fires and will take several months to repair, according to experts.

Aid worth £75m has been made available to those affected by the fires, including people who have lost their homes.

Six fires were still burning yesterday in neighbouring Spain, where some 28,300 hectares (70,000 acres) of land have been burnt so far this month.