Portugal has appealed to European Union partners for assistance in fighting a wildfire on the island of Madeira that has raged for a week and threatened a UNESCO-listed forest.
The country will shortly trigger the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to bolster firefighting efforts with two Canadair water bomber planes, a government source told the Lusa news agency.
Head of the regional government, Miguel Albuquerque, said 60 extra firefighters and first aid specialists had arrived from the Portuguese mainland on top of 76 already sent since the wildfire started last Wednesday.
It had burned 4,392 hectares of land up to yesterday, the EU's Copernicus observatory said on social media.
It added that more than 950 hectares had been scorched in the previous 24 hours.
Regional civil protection chief Antonio Nunes told RTP public television that the fire had reached a section of the Laurissilva forest, but the damage was not significant.
It is the country's largest surviving laurel forest and is on UNESCO's World Heritage List.
More than 100 firefighters battled the blaze on two main fronts on the island in the Atlantic Ocean which is traditionally packed with tourists at this time, the civil protection service said in a statement.
Fierce winds have fuelled the flames and disrupted operations at the island's main airport in Funchal.
However, management said the facility was operating normally this week.
The fire started in the Ribeira Brava district and spread to the nearby Camara de Lobos and Ponta do Sol areas in the southern part of the island.
About 200 people were moved from their homes to avoid smoke inhalation, but most have since returned.
Authorities said no properties had been destroyed, nor any injuries reported, but some firefighters had symptoms of exhaustion.
Thousands of hectares of vegetation were lost in a wildfire last year and at least three people were killed in a 2016 blaze near Funchal.
