- Title: Wildfire can be controlled by end of morning - Portuguese firefighters
- Date: 20th June 2017
- Summary: PEDROGAO GRANDE, PORTUGAL (JUNE 20, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS PANORAMIC VIEW OF MOUNTAINS AND DAM WITH CLOUD OF SMOKE ABOVE VARIOUS OF VIEW OF HILLTOP VILLAGE CASTANHEIRA DE PERA, PORTUGAL (JUNE 20, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SMOKE BILLOWING FROM FOREST BURNED TRACTOR SMOKE COMING FROM BURNED TRACTOR WHEELS BURNED TRACTORS VARIOUS OF BURNED VEHICLES AVELAR, PORTUGAL (JUNE 20, 2017) (REUTERS) CIVIL PROTECTION COMMANDER VITOR PINTO SITTING DOWN FOR NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) CIVIL PROTECTION COMMANDER, VITOR PINTO, SAYING: "Yesterday at the end of the day we had two points that concerned us. Both situations were identified during the night. Thanks to the efforts of the operational personnel involved in the field we were able to resolve one of the two situations. (Question from reporter) The two situations are in the north of this fire and I hope that by the end of this morning we can also extinguish the other hot point." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) CIVIL PROTECTION COMMANDER, VITOR PINTO, SAYING: "As I said before it's a very worrying hotpoint but I think we have the necessary resources to extinguish the fire by lunch-time." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS
- Embargoed: 4th July 2017 10:23
- Keywords: wildfire Portugal firefighters Pedrogao Grande
- Location: PEDROGAO GRANDE, CASTANHEIRA DE PERA AND CERNACHE DO BONJARDIM, PORTUGAL
- City: PEDROGAO GRANDE, CASTANHEIRA DE PERA AND CERNACHE DO BONJARDIM, PORTUGAL
- Country: Portugal
- Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Wildfires/Forest Fires
- Reuters ID: LVA0016M30KSN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Portuguese firefighters said the fire in the mountainous region of Pedrogao Grande, which killed many people in their cars as they tried to flee the blaze, can be controlled by noon after more than 1,000 firefighters toiled overnight.
About 160 other people were injured in the blaze, about 200 km (125 miles) northeast of the capital Lisbon, and which Prime Minister Antonio Costa said at the weekend was the biggest human tragedy in Portugal in living memory.
Data from the European Forest Fire Information System showed that an area of more than 30,000 hectares had burned in the past seven days, making it the largest ever fire in Portugal.
The area burnt is nearly three times bigger than Lisbon and means the relatively small country accounts for more than a quarter of all fires in the entire European Union this year, the data showed. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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