The man took place by his own bulldozer while fighting the forest fires of Portugal

A man died after being sent back by a bulldozer whom he operated while fighting forest fires in Portugal, bearing the number of people in the country with three, officials said.

The 65 -year -old man worked for a company hired to fight fires in the northern municipality of Mirandela and was run after falling from his vehicle while trying to avoid flames.

Portugal has been fighting forest fires since the end of July, the north and the center of the country have hit the hardest.

In neighboring Spain, forest fires killed four people and burned an area larger than long Island in New York State – although temperatures are starting to cool after 16 days of extreme heat.

The fires also broke out in Greece, France, Turkey and the Balkans while a heat wave swept away Europe.

Meteorologists say that such extremes become more frequent and intense due to climate change induced by humans, which makes meteorological events more frequent and more serious.

In Portugal, fifteen people were also injured – one in a critical way – during the fight against fires on Tuesday near the central city of Sabugal, the AFP news agency reported.

Local media in Spain report that 40 fires are still active despite the drop in temperatures.

The most intense heat, when temperatures have exceeded 40C in many regions of Spain, have now passed, but Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged people to “exercise extreme caution”.

“Critical moments remain, difficult hours remain,” he added.

According to the information system for information on European forests, at least 373,000 hectares were burned in Spain.

Dozens of villages have been evacuated due to fires.

“We had to run away because the fire came from everywhere – everywhere – above us, below us, all around,” ISIDORO, 83, resident in the province of Galicia told AFP.

Spanish officials said many fires had been triggered by lightning during dry storms, but a criminal fire is suspected in some cases.

The Ministry of the Interior indicates that 32 people were arrested and that 188 surveys were launched.

Although weather conditions are currently favorable to forest fires, they can be triggered by barbecues, cigarette heels or thrown bottles. Encouraging a forest fire is a criminal offense in Spain, even if it is accidental.

Portugal forest fires have burned around 216,000 hectares of land so far in 2025, according to EU data.

Spain and Portugal have activated the European civil protection mechanism, under which countries can request emergency assistance.

Forest fires are a current event in southern Europe in summer, but their severity can often be exacerbated by heat waves.