Hundreds of firefighters battle Madeira wildfire

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LISBON (Reuters) – Hundreds of Portuguese firefighters on Sunday scrambled to put out a wildfire sweeping parts of the Atlantic island of Madeira’s south coast, a popular tourist destination, with strong winds complicating efforts to tackle the blaze.

The wildfire, which started on Wednesday in a remote rural area of Ribeira Brava has spread to the neighbouring municipality of Camara de Lobos, and now has three fronts, island authorities said.

Nearly 200 firefighters, backed by 38 vehicles are tackling the fire but high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds are complicating efforts to combat the flames. A helicopter also battled the blaze but had to stop operating as the night set in.

“This fire, which is very dangerous, I have no doubt it was caused by arson in an inaccessible area where air support could not operate,” the President of the Regional Government of Madeira, Miguel Albuquerque, told reporters.

No injuries or fatalities have been reported, but 160 people have been evacuated for precaution, he said.

The entire coastline of Madeira – an autonomous region of Portugal home to around 250,000 people – has been placed on orange alert, the second highest level, until Monday, due to high temperatures.

According to weather agency IPMA, the temperature in Madeira reached 30 degrees Celsius (86°F) in the last few days. Strong winds that were fanning the flames led to dozens of cancelled flights.

Portugal sent a force of 76 firefighters from the mainland to Madeira on Saturday and the neighbouring Azores archipelago was to send 15 firefighters on Sunday evening.

(Reporting by Patrícia Vicente Rua; Editing by Ros Russell)