In northern Portugal, a pilot died when his waterbombing plane crashed in the Foz Coa area, near the Spanish border, according to the report published on Bluelane News and world press.
The Portuguese authorities say at least 238 people have died from the heat over the past week.
Fires are ravaging areas of France’s south-western Gironde region, where over 12,000 people have been evacuated.
Heatwaves have become more frequent, more intense, and last longer because of human-induced climate change. The world has already warmed by about 1.1C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to carbon emissions.
The French weather service has forecast temperatures of up to 41 degrees in parts of the country’s south on Sunday and new heat records are predicted for Monday.
Late on Saturday the country placed 22 more regional departments mostly along its Atlantic coast on high orange alert.
One resident in south-west France described the forest fires as feeling “post-apocalyptic” – “I’ve never seen this before,” Karyn, who lives near Teste-de-Buch, told news agency AFP.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said fires had so far burned 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) of land and praised firefighters’ “remarkable courage”.
