So far 19 people have died -- including one on Friday -- in the string of blazes that has hit Portugal since July.

In southwestern Portugal fires were still ravaging woodland around Monchique, in Algarve province, and Odemira, further to the north in Alentejo. On Saturday houses were evacuated in the area and firemen trapped by flames in their three trucks had to be rescued by airlift.

Saturday evening a pall of black smoke and thin ashes covered Lisbon for a few hours as fires continued north of the capital.

By Sunday morning, the fires that had been raging since Thursday were brought under control around Mafra, 40 kilometers north of Lisbon, but some 1,000 military and firemen remained stationed there.

In the Mafra area the fires have already destroyed one third of a forest park of historical and natural importance.

Temperatures were expected to rise above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in some parts of Portugal over the weekend.

Before the recent return of high temperatures, Portuguese forestry officials said wildfires had destroyed some 362,000 hectares (894,000 acres) of woodland and shrubland so far this year, most of it during the heatwave that swept Europe in the first half of August.

Provisonal estimates put the damage at close to one billion eurosbillion dollars).

TERRA.WIRE