The EU will send eight firefighting planes to Portugal to help the country tackle blazes in its north that have injured 12 firefighters, two seriously. Several fires broke out in the Aveiro region over the weekend, which have forced about 70 residents to flee, the civil protection authority has said.

Firefighters tackling deadly wildfires in central and northern Portugal had doused the flames in the Aveiro district, one of the worst-hit, as of Thursday, and were focusing on eight large blazes still raging elsewhere.

Thousands of firefighters continued their efforts to extinguish over 100 wildfires in northern Portugal on Wednesday.

More than 100 wildfires stretched thousands of firefighters to the limit in northern Portugal on Wednesday, with seven deaths since the worst spate of fires in recent years spread out of control over the weekend.

Portuguese national police said that they have arrested seven men suspected of having started wildfires in recent days. Authorities have prohibited the use of heavy farming equipment to reduce the risk of inadvertently starting a blaze.

Emergency services have reported 90 active incidents in mainland Portugal, with 17 fires currently raging and 60 approaching their end stages.

Civil protection authorities listed 42 active fires on its website on Wednesday and said they had mobilized around 3,900 firefighters and over 1,000 vehicles