Portugal declared a national disaster, while 335 fires were burning across Canadas British Columbia region.

In Portugal, 11 people had died. Prime Minister Jos Manuel Duro Barroso said one blaze that took three days to extinguish had destroyed 11,000 hectares of forestland and was one of the largest forest fires in the country for 15 years.

About one third of Portugal is covered by forest. Industry figures show that 26,000 hectares had already been destroyed by fire during the year to July 2003, before the recent set of blazes.

In Canada, 2,000 firefighters were working across British Columbia. The worst fires were in the Kamloops region, which covers an area the size of France and Germany combined.