More than 300 firefighters equipped with 84 vehicles and a helicopter battled the blaze which erupted near Carregueira 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the capital on Wednesday afternoon, the Lusa news agency reported.

Firefighters said high temperatures and strong winds had made it difficult to bring the fire under control before it had raced through more than 400 hectares (990 acres) of trees.

Some 30 firefighters and seven vehicles were still on the site of the blaze as a precautionary measure, Lusa reported.

Local officials initially feared the fire could pose a threat to a number of nearby houses and a local jail, but firefighters told state television RTP the buildings were never in danger.

Forests cover roughly one-third of Portugal and forestry accounts for 11 percent of the nation's exports, but each summer thousands of trees are destroyed by fires.

There were some 25,000 forest or brush fires last year in Portugal which burned almost 120,000 hectares (296,400 acres) of land, according to forest service figures.

Firefighters blame the vast majority of blazes on either negligence or arson.

TERRA.WIRE