Portugal's burnt area in 2026 a quarter of last year's

Prime Minister Luís Montenegro said the area burnt by wildfires in Portugal so far in 2026 is four times lower than in the same period last year. Despite the improvement, he warned the country still faces "elevated risk" amid high temperatures and weeks of complexity. Montenegro highlighted the record size of the firefighting deployment and praised firefighters, civil protection agents, security forces and the armed forces. He also flagged a rise in night-time and simultaneous ignitions, often linked to negligent use of fire, and noted Portugal's support to other EU states hit by wildfires.