15 Killed in ‘Immense’ Forest Fire in Portugal

An “immense” fire fanned by high winds raged out of control Saturday in central Portugal, killing at least 15 people and charring 12,000 acres of forest and brush land.

Firefighters called on the military for help in battling the blaze near the town of Agueda, 200 miles north of Lisbon.

“The fire is immense, immense,” said a fire official. “Houses have burned down; civilians and firemen have died.”

“We confirm there are 15 dead,” said an official at the Agueda fire station. “But three of the bodies are so badly burned it is hard to say if the number of civilians dead is two or three,” he added, saying most of the victims were firefighters.

“The fire is enormous,” said one witness. “And a huge cloud of ash and smoke is blocking the sun and making it very difficult to breathe.”

Officials said the town of Agueda was in confusion as people rushed to the hospital asking for information on the injured and dead.

Worried About Wind

The fire department spokesman said firefighters were beginning to bring the enormous blaze under control by late afternoon, but that it continued to be “intense,” and he added, “Our only fear is if the wind picks up tonight as it did last night, it could start all over again.”

The numbers of injured and missing were not immediately known.

“Because of the time the fire started, just before midnight, we suspect arson or criminal negligence. But we have no proof of this as yet,” said an Agueda fire station spokesman.

Interior Minister Eurico de Melo said in Agueda that he was convinced that arson was the cause of the fire.

“The unusual number of fires out of season proves their criminal origin. The courts cannot be complacent with these types of crimes,” he said.

Fourteen firemen died battling a similar blaze in central Portugal last September after a summer of fires charred more than 20,000 acres of forest.