Portugal fires largely under control
From Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman
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A woman grives after her home was burned down in Chamusca, Portugal.
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In Portugal and Spain, record highs fan deadly fires
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LISBON, Portugal (CNN) -- After a week of battling forest fires throughout Portugal that left 14 people dead, authorities on Thursday told CNN the situation is "much better," with only one major fire still burning.
The remaining fire is in the Santarem district, about an hour's drive from Lisbon, while four other major fires that were burning on Wednesday are reported under control, Nuno Costa, of the National Fire Coordination Center in Lisbon, told CNN.
"The situation today is much better," Costa said Thursday morning.
Costa said that three firefighting helicopters from Germany, which arrived in Portugal on Wednesday, have not been used against the fires because they were not yet needed.
There are still four firefighting planes on loan from Morocco in Portugal. But Italy on Wednesday recalled its two firefighting planes in Portugal so they could battle forest fires back home in Italy.
Portugal earlier called for help from its partners in the European Union and NATO. Spain last week provided some firefighting aircraft, but they were also called home over the weekend to fight fires in Spain.
News reports said Portuguese police have arrested 26 people suspected of starting some of the forest fires.
The latest fires have burned 54,000 hectares (133,000 acres) in Portugal, which is nearly as much land burned just since last week as during the entire preceding seven months.
Since January, 80,400 hectares (198,000 acres) had burned before the latest round of fires, said Patricia Gaspar, also of the National Fire Coordination Center in Lisbon.
In Spain, various smaller forest and brush fires were still burning around the nation on Thursday, but the major blazes were considered to be under control.
In just the first five days of August, the fires in Spain burned 27,000 hectares (66,700 acres) -- nearly as much as the 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) which have burned since late January before the latest round of fires, the Spain's Environment Ministry statement said.
Two more elderly people in Spain have died from the heat wave, not the forest fires, making a total of 14 Spaniards, mostly elderly, who have died in recent days from the heat wave, local news reports said.
