Portugal battles ferocious wildfires as toll rises

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00:00As violent winds push trees back and forth, the red glow of flames approaches this patch

00:07of forest in Portugal.

00:09Firefighters were still battling difficult conditions in the early hours of Wednesday

00:13morning, one day after three firefighters died when their truck became trapped by fire

00:19in the central region of Coimbra.

00:22About 50 kilometres north, these residents in Agueda watched on in disbelief as a blaze

00:28ravaged the outskirts of their neighbourhood and destroyed a warehouse.

00:32I was the owner of the warehouse, I had a small construction company, I worked all my

00:42life for 65 years, 70 years and everything is destroyed.

00:50Meanwhile truck drivers were left stranded after fires forced road closures including

00:55a section of the main highway linking Lisbon and Porto.

00:58Some, having been stuck for more than 30 hours, were frustrated at the lack of information

01:03from authorities.

01:04A few minutes away, locals decided to help firefighters by offering them food and drink.

01:10We know they're very tired and then as they don't have access to food and water we're

01:16trying to help and it's our way of thanking them.

01:20By early Wednesday, more than 5,500 firefighters and about 20 aircraft were battling fires

01:27located mostly in the country's north.

01:30This after authorities had invoked the European Union's civil protection mechanism to obtain

01:35additional water bombers.

01:37The Portuguese government has extended an alert warning until Thursday evening.

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