The European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), which shows the burned areas mapped on satellite images, shows that between 1 January and 18 October, the fires consumed 519,748 hectares of forest in Portugal.

According to the system of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, 240,767 hectares of forest were burned in the first half of October.

On Tuesday, the National Civil Protection Authority said the Portuguese system had counted 225,447 hectares of forest burned this year.

This difference is due to the European system being based on satellite analysis, while the Portuguese system waits for validation on the ground.

According to data from the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF), the worst years for forest fires were recorded in 2003 (425,839 hectares) and 2005 (339,089 hectares).

More than half of the area burned this year in the European Union was registered in Portugal.

This year's fires in Portugal killed over 100 people in a four-month period.