Wildfires in central Portugal
On 17th June a dry thunderstorm ignited a forest fire in central Portugal, already parched from an intense heat wave and severe drought. It quickly spread over nine different municipalities and took a week and vast fire-fighting resources to extinguish. Sixty four people lost their lives, mostly trying to flee the fires in their cars, on roads flanked by eucalyptus plantations.
Photo credit: Margus Kurvitis