After several days of calm, a new wave of forest fires has broken out in central Portugal.<br /><br />More than 2,300 firefighters are battling to stop the flames spreading but strong winds are hampering their efforts.<br /><br />Civil Protection spokesperson Patricia Gaspar urged the population to stay calm.<br /><br />The biggest fire is raging around the municipality of Serta in the Castelo Branco region.<br /><br />Locals are doing their bit to help emergency services combat the flames, even using hosepipes, as seen on pictures broadcast by Portuguese television.<br /><br />Fire crews are also battling another blaze that started on Sunday afternoon near Coimbra.<br /><br />In June, amid the deadliest forest fires in Portugal’s recent history, 64 people were killed as they tried to flee in cars or were engulfed in flames in a hilly region some 200 km northeast of Lisbon.<br /><br />More than 150 others were injured.<br /><br />Police said that fire was caused by dry lightning strikes and spread so quickly due to an unusually dangerous mix of low humidity, extremely high temperatures and powerful winds.<br /><br />There are also eucalyptus plantations in the region and the presence of the highly flammable trees was also widely seen as a factor in the rapid spread of the fire.<br /><br />Portugal has now moved to reduce the number of eucalyptus groves as part of forest law reforms.<br /><br />with Agencies<br />
