Deadly fires ease, anger grows over Iberia's 41 fire deaths

Carlos Martins, 61, stands among burnt cars in his car paint shop in the village of Pinheiro dos Abracos near Oliveira do Hospital, northern Portugal. Photo / AP

Portugal began three days of national mourning yesterday over its 41 wildfire deaths amid widespread public anger, with pressure growing on the government to explain why officials failed to prevent the tragedy that came just four months after 64 others died in another fast-moving blaze.

Rain and lower temperatures yesterday helped emergency teams in Portugal and Spain bring under control most of the fires that raged over the weekend. In Galicia, in northwest Spain, four people died.

Portuguese authorities reported that almost all major wildfires were out yesterday morning. Some 2700 firefighters were deployed to prevent re-ignitions in the country's smouldering forests.

A burnt car in which an elderly couple was killed lies at the entrance of a small tunnel where it was caught by a wildfire in the village of Relvas near Santa Comba Dao. Photo / AP

Investigations were underway to find the cause of the late-season wave of hundreds of forest fires, which Iberian officials blamed mostly on arsonists and freak weather conditions. Temperatures on the Iberian Peninsula exceeded 30C over the weekend and the area was raked by high winds as Hurricane Ophelia churned past in the Atlantic.

"We are ready to extinguish fires, but we are not ready for arsonists," Spanish Environment and Agriculture Minister Isabel Garcia Tejerina told public broadcaster TVE.
In Portugal, opposition parties rebuked the government for what they called a lack of preparedness.

The Civil Protection Agency's full fire-fighting contingent operates only during the traditional peak wildfire season, which runs from July 1 to September 30. In October, its fire-fighting assets are reduced by half.

Critics say the state of readiness must be more flexible, especially when Portugal is gripped by drought and its weather patterns are affected by climate change.

Prime Minister Antonio Costa, who has rejected calls for members of his government to resign over the fire deaths, called a special meeting of his Cabinet for next Saturday to discuss fire-fighting measures.

"This is not a time for resignations, this is a time for solutions," Costa said.

But public outrage is simmering. Local governments in the worst-hit areas, aided by a social media campaign, are organising silent street protests in Lisbon and in their own towns and cities to coincide with the Cabinet meeting.

In Galician towns on Monday, angry residents chanted "Never again!" to protest the deadly wildfires.

- AP