In total 104 men and women and 32 vehicles were dispatched to Spain from the Portuguese regions of Castelo Branco, Lisbon, Portalegre and Santarem to boost resources in the Spanish region of Acebo, Cáceres.
A statement from the ANPC explained that the prompt “readying and sending of this force stemmed from a help request by the Spanish authorities to the Portuguese, under the bilateral protocol of mutual aid between Portugal and Spain.”
A posting on an Algarve-focused Facebook page said that the Portuguese fire-fighters were “received as heroes” in Spain.
“Local people could not be more grateful and welcomed them with applause”, the post read, and was accompanied by a video which showed the Spanish population in Moraleja welcoming the various Portuguese vehicles.
According to the author of the post the wildfire raged for three days, consuming more than 6,500 hectares of forest and leading to the evacuation of more than two thousand people.