A forest fire near Lisbon was brought under control Sunday after more than 700 Portuguese firefighters and police officers were mobilised to tackle the latest blaze to ravage the popular tourist area, officials said.

Twenty-one people, mostly firefighters, were injured in the fire, which sparked overnight in the mountainous region of the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park and was fanned by violent winds.

The gusts have since subsided, providing a "favourable" climate to put out the fire, Paulo Santos of the civil protection agency told local media.

He said emergency services and six fire-fighting planes would remain in the area on Sunday afternoon to limit the risks of the blaze picking up again.

Prime Minister Antonio Costa hailed the operation's success in the face of a "real threat".

Authorities earlier evacuated 47 people as a precaution from a camping ground nearby.

Sintra was recognised as a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1995 for its cultural landscape, which combines parks and buildings that date from several centuries of Portuguese history.

Meteorological authorities had issued a warning in recent days over high temperatures.

Portugal has suffered a series of deadly fires, with massive blazes in 2017 leaving scores dead and prompting the government to introduce a variety of safety measures and launch an ambitious reforestation project.

The number of fires in Portugal has significantly reduced this summer, with burned areas down 60 percent compared to the average over the last 10 years, according the Institute of Conservation Nature and Forests.

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Europe fires to worsen even if climate goals met: study
Paris (AFP) Oct 2, 2018
Even reaching the most optimistic goals in the Paris climate treaty will still increase the area of southern Europe devastated by forest fires each year by at least 40 percent, researchers warned Tuesday. Following two years of often deadly blazes across Portugal, Spain, southern France and Greece, scientists at the University of Barcelona said more woodland areas could be lost to the flames if the targets laid out in the 2015 climate deal were missed. The agreement aims to limit global tempe ... read more