Around 2,800 firefighters fought numerous forest fires in central and northern Portugal on Sunday.

Some fires have been active since Thursday, and according to civil defense around 40 people have been slightly injured.

Because of the ongoing heat wave, the government ordered rescue workers to be on high alert.

Almost 250 forest fires were reported to have broken out on Friday and Saturday.

The largest fire has been blazing in the Ourém region north of Lisbon inland since Thursday.

Almost 700 firefighters were deployed there alone.

According to initial estimates, at least 1,500 hectares of vegetation and two houses were destroyed by the flames.

More than 700 soldiers were sent to the area.

A little further north, another fire has been blazing since Friday, breaking out in the municipality of Pombal, which lies on the border of Leiria and Santarém counties.

There, 450 firefighters fought the flames.

Around 40 firefighters and civilians were injured, but most of those affected were treated on site.

They suffered from symptoms of intoxication or exhaustion, as the national commander of civil protection, André Fernandes, announced on Sunday evening.

During this week, the temperatures had partly risen to over 40 degrees and it should get even hotter in the coming days.

Major fire also on the Croatian peninsula of Istria

Portugal's Prime Minister António Costa canceled a trip to Mozambique.

His government requested activation of the EU civil protection mechanism.

The Portuguese emergency services can then fall back on two fire-fighting aircraft stationed in Spain.

"We are facing an almost unprecedented meteorological situation," said Fernandes on Saturday.

In May, 97 percent of the country suffered from a severe drought.

Scientists see a connection between climate change and more extreme and frequent weather events such as heat waves and wildfires.

A major fire also broke out on the outskirts of the city of Pula on the Croatian peninsula of Istria on Saturday.

76 firefighters, 29 fire engines and a fire engine brought the flames under control, as local fire chief Dino Kozlevac explained on Croatian television HRT.

40 hectares of vegetation burned down, he added.

No one was injured and no houses were damaged.

Flames and smoke could be seen across Pula, the capital of Istria with a population of 60,000.

In the affected suburbs of Valdebek and Dolinka, residents ran out of their homes in panic.

Parts of Pula were temporarily without electricity.

Media reported that a transformer station also burned down.

It was initially not clear whether the fire in the transformer was the trigger or just a consequence of the forest fire.

Arson in Heusenstamm in southern Hesse

The police are investigating two forest fires in southern Hesse Heusenstamm (Offenbach district) because of arson.

Accordingly, two forest areas burned on Saturday, in each of which stacked wood and several sources of fire were found, as the police headquarters in East Hesse announced on Sunday.

In the afternoon, around 1,000 square meters of forest were on fire in the first fire, and around 350 square meters in the second in the evening.

A police helicopter was deployed to search for the source of the fire.

The police estimate the damage caused at around 11,000 euros.

The fires have since been extinguished.

Investigators are asking potential witnesses for information.

On Saturday there was also a forest fire near Geisenheim in the Rheingau-Taunus district, in which an area of ​​around 10,000 square meters was on fire.

According to the information, there was initially no evidence of arson.