Portugal is facing its worst fire season on record, according to prime minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso.
He blamed a recent upsurge, which involved more than 1,000 firefighters, on arsonists.
A spokesperson for the National Emergency Operations Center said at the weekend that firefighters were trying to contain three blazes, including one in coastal mountains about 120 miles south of Lisbon. Fires in Loures, about 10 miles north of central Lisbon, and in Mafra, about 25 miles north of the capital, covered Lisbon in smoke.
