EU Nations Send Aircraft As Fires Rage On In Portugal - AFP

[hatrack]

Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio Sunday called for national unity and solidarity as 40 major fires raged across the country and European neighbors responded to an urgent appeal for help by sending water-dropping aircraft.
"This is a very serious moment for Portugal," Sampaio told reporters during a visit to the headquarters of the national fire service near Lisbon.

With Portugal enduring its worst drought since the 1940s, some 3,200 fire-fighters backed by 800 vehicles and 30 aircraft were fighting the blazes with the help of hundreds of military and police.

Sampaio appealed to employers to release volunteer firemen from their work obligations "because at this time the country needs as many fire fighters as possible." Earlier, Prime Minister Jose Socrates acknowledged that the country was running out of resources to fight the fires and said he had invoked a European Union mechanism for cooperation in emergencies.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/2005/050821213142.jptf63gx.html

[Porcupine]

1. Fire bombers are cute but useless on a large scale.

They can protect points, a house, a truck, a flareup on a fire line. But the truth is I've watched a fire jump an eight lane freeway (Oakland). Those fires have to run out of fuel or get rained on.