Wildfires

Wildfires - Arizona, USA

A raging fire broke out on Saturday in a wildlife refuge in northwestern Arizona near the California border, forcing the evacuation of about 150 homes.

Authorities ordered the mandatory evacuations from homes in the rural area after the wildfire sparked on Saturday afternoon grew to 2,000 acres in the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge. As of late Saturday, an undermined number of structures had been burned.

Wildfires - Portugal

Nearly 1,000 firefighters as well as six helicopters and three planes were deployed in Portugal Sunday to battle forest fires raging in the north and centre of the country, authorities said.

The worst fire scorched Vila Nova de Cerveira in the northern Minho region and was continuing to spread due to "difficult to access terrain, wind, high temperatures and the ongoing drought," a fire service spokesman said, with 250 men battling the blaze.

Another major fire was raging at Miranda do Corvo, not far from the central city of Coimbra, with homes there also threatened.

Around 100 kilometres (62 miles) to the east at Covilha, two firemen were injured tackling another blaze which forced authorities to evacuate a camp site and a hostel before it was brought under control.

Nearly 80 percent of the country's territory is considered to be in a severe drought, a situation that is likely to get worse in August, according to the Portuguese meteorological agency IPMA.