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00:00A desolate landscape in this Portuguese town, where a wildfire has left vehicles completely
00:06burnt out.
00:09Similar scenes further north, here in the village of Maceira.
00:13Residents have been left reeling.
00:18It was horrific, horrible.
00:20The fire passed by very quickly because of the wind.
00:23But it was really bad.
00:25I don't think the government can help everyone, but we would appreciate some aid.
00:35We don't have many sheep, I only have 10 or 11, but we have to feed them.
00:39And now they don't have anything to eat because there's nothing on the mountain.
00:48Firefighters have managed to quell blazes in the Avairo district, one of the hardest
00:52hit areas, but they're still tackling flames elsewhere in the country.
00:57More than 5,000 have been mobilised and waterbombing aircraft have been supplied by Morocco, Italy,
01:03France and Spain, which has also sent a 270-strong Spanish military emergencies team.
01:09Several deaths have been reported and, according to the European Forest Fire Information Service,
01:15since Saturday, the flames have burned more than 105,000 hectares, the largest area burned
01:20since the country's 2017 wildfires.
01:24Experts warned that residents' health could also be impacted.
01:28In terms of the local population or the people who are immediately in the zone of where these
01:33fires are burning, you can see increases in PM2.5, which is a key air pollutant, but then
01:39is this wide range of very toxic and carcinogenic and harmful chemicals, which have impacts
01:46on human health that are released from the fires.
01:51According to authorities, at least some of the blazes were started by arsonists, and
01:55law enforcement have arrested more than a dozen suspects.
01:59Scientists have warned that human-caused climate change is exacerbating extreme weather across
02:04the world, including wildfires.