Algarve fires threaten resorts

FOREST fires raged across Portugal yesterday, scorching the Algarve tourist region in the south and bearing down on one town.

The Algarve is one of the worst hit areas, and reports said one-third of the area’s woodland had burned.

Firemen said in one area, the blaze was spreading towards the town of Tavira on the southern coast. Several hundred people were evacuated from the Algarve mountain village of Sao Bras de Alportel, 18 miles north of the coastal city of Faro. About 650 firemen with helicopters and water- dumping planes battled to control the flames.

Portuguese authorities have so far refused to say how much land has been burned in the latest batch of fires this week, but firemen and news reports place the figure in the tens of thousands of acres

On Thursday, the Algarve fire was said to have a front stretching 50 miles and getting longer. Fifteen fires in all were reported throughout the country yesterday.

Last year, fires in Portugal killed 18 people, damaged 2,500 buildings and destroyed one million acres.

In Spain, firemen said they had controlled a massive blaze that destroyed 65,000 acres this week in the southern province of Huelva, which borders the Algarve. Two people died in that fire.