The IPMA also placed several municipalities in all districts of mainland Portugal at very high and high risk of rural fire, while they have kept Bragança and Guarda under an orange weather warning and Vila Real, Viseu, Castelo Branco, Portalegre, Évora and Beja, under a yellow warning due to heat.

According to the Institute, the danger of rural fires will remain high in some regions of the continent until at least Tuesday.

Portugal fire update

At 7:00 am today, more than 700 operatives were fighting 21 fires - between ongoing fires, resolution and completion - in mainland Portugal, with the help of 216 vehicles.

On Thursday, the Minister of Internal Administration, José Luís Carneiro, announced that the state of alert had been dropped.