The European Commission announced on Thursday that it was sending two firefighting aeroplanes to the island of Madeira to help Portugal battle wildfires that have destroyed about 5,500 hectares of land so far.
The support falls under the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism, which responds to such disasters.
At a press conference in Brussels on Thursday, a commission spokesman said two planes from the European Union’s strategic reserve in Spain would step in to help fight the fires on Madeira.
Portugal asked the commission for assistance under the mechanism late on Wednesday, the spokesman said.
The commission is also providing Portuguese authorities with satellite images from the EU’s Copernicus Earth observation programme, he added.
According to state broadcaster RTP, the two heavy-duty water-bomber aircraft from the Spanish Air Force arrived in the afternoon and are set to join the firefighting operations.
The wildfire has been raging in the centre of the island since last week. The civil defence said 125 firefighters and civil defence personnel are fighting the blaze.
The extinguishing work has been hampered by strong winds and high temperatures. According to officials, three fronts were recently active, spreading along a mountain range that is difficult to access.
The main aim of the emergency services is to prevent the fire from reaching the laurel forest, which has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a hydroelectric power station in the Pico Ruivo area.
The regional President Miguel Albuquerque rejected claims from environmentalists that the flames had already engulfed the laurel forest. The fire had not reached the protected area, he assured.
Some 200 people had to leave their homes due to the risk of smoke inhalation but they have been able to return. No injuries or damage to buildings have been reported so far.
However, Albuquerque assured that people and residential areas were not in danger.
The politician also rejected accusations from the Portuguese media that he underestimated the fire and did not interrupt his holiday quickly enough.
The unnecessary “alarmist rhetoric” must stop, Albuquerque was quoted as saying by RTP.
The self-governing Portuguese territory of Madeira, which has a population of about 250,000, lies in the Atlantic Ocean, about 1,000 kilometres south-west of mainland Portugal and roughly 500 kilometres west of the Moroccan coast.
