New fires flare in Portugal

Six new fires broke out in Portugal today, after firefighters tamed several other forest blazes that were burning across the country, officials said.

Fires had flared up in the central and northern districts of Leiria, Guarda and Braganca.

The most serious was in the Pombal area of Leiria, about 80 miles north of Lisbon, where 180 firefighters supported by 45 firetrucks and 10 Portuguese, Italian and French water tankers were fighting flames, officials said.

The five other blazes, three in Guarda and two in Braganca were relatively small and didn’t offer cause for concern, a spokeswoman for the firefighters said.

This summer’s wildfires have killed 15 people, charred thousands of acres of forest and agricultural land, destroyed dozens of houses and driven hundreds from their homes.

Negligence and failure to clean up forests are the main cause of fires.

So far fires have killed 15 people, 11 of them firefighters.

About 20% of wildfires were caused by arsonists. Police have arrested 126 people on suspicion of arson since the beginning of the year, the Diario de Noticias newspaper reported on Friday, quoting a police official and the Ministry of Agriculture, said

A day earlier, police said they arrested a 24-year-old bricklayer for allegedly starting part of a massive fire in the central Coimbra district.

Police said they would set up an arson database with information on individuals arrested for starting fires, as well as a special laboratory to analyse arson-related crimes. Both would be running next year, police said.