Increased humidity helps Portuguese firefighters

Lower temperatures and increased humidity helped firefighters tame many of the 30 fires that still raged in Portugal this morning.

Some eleven fires were still ablaze, the worst one in Coimbra, about 120 miles north of Lisbon.

This blaze had been charring woodland since Sunday night and yesterday it surrounded the city of more than 100,000 people, destroyed 10 houses and forced the evacuation of 60 people, firefighters said.

329 firefighters supported by 89 fire trucks were still fighting flames in Coimbra. The largest number of fires burned in the northern districts of Viseu and Viana do Castelo.

Portugal was already counting on EU help to fight the blazes.