Hundreds of firefighters are battling the blaze which has been raging for four days in south-west Portugal, which is affected like neighboring Spain by a heat wave that has sounded the alarm across the Iberian Peninsula.

Firefighters are working with the support of 9 aircraft in Odemira, near the Algarve tourist region, where tens of thousands of hectares have burned, according to initial estimates.

Residents and tourists were forced to leave the area and many were housed in a school that was turned into a reception center.

Another large fire in the Leiria region, in central Portugal is in remission after burning 70,000 hectares.

Today, 2,800 firefighters and 16 firefighting aircraft operate throughout the Portuguese territory.

Temperatures are expected to drop slightly today, but will reach 40°C in some areas, after the 2023 record of 46.4°C yesterday in Santarem, central Portugal, according to early estimates from the Portuguese Meteorological Service.

The state of alert remains in both countries of the Iberian Peninsula. Southwest Spain is on orange alert, while the province of Córdoba in Andalucia is on red alert, the Spanish meteorological service (Aemet) announced.

Temperatures today are expected to reach 44°C today and especially tomorrow, at the peak of the third heatwave of the summer.

This heatwave episode is expected to last until Thursday and many Spanish provinces will be on red alert in Andalusia, the Madrid region, Castilla-La Mancha, and the Basque Country.

Last weekend, more than 10,000 were burned in Spain. The fourth major fire of the day broke out yesterday afternoon in Extremadura, in the municipality of Valencia de Alcantara. Firefighters were unable to bring it under control overnight.

The Iberian Peninsula is at the forefront of Climate Change in Europe with constant episodes of heat, drought and fires.

About 1,000,000 hectares have burned this year in Spain and Portugal, according to provisional estimates, against a total of 4,000,000 hectares in 2022.