Deadly Wildfires Devastate Spain and Portugal

A firefighter from the Spanish military emergency unit battles with flames in Vilamarin in Galicia, Spain on Oct. 14.

The Portuguese minister in charge of emergency services resigned Wednesday after 106 people were killed in unprecedented wildfires this year in the Iberian nation.

The European Union's Emergency Management Service, meanwhile, says the area burned by wildfires this year in Portugal is the largest on record for the nation, more than six times the annual average for the last eight years.

A man attempts to subdue wildfire flames in Vigo, northwestern Spain on Oct. 15.

Flames threaten a small chapel in Moinhos village, Lousa, Portugal on Oct. 15.

Firefighters work to extinguish a fire in Moinhos, Portugal on Oct. 15.

Portuguese authorities reported that almost all major wildfires were out by Tuesday morning. Some 2,700 firefighters were deployed to prevent re-ignitions in the country's smoldering forests.

A house burns in Moinhos village, Portugal on Oct. 15.

A resident fights a wildfire in Vila Nova de Poiares, Lousa, Portugal on Oct. 15.

Emergency services battle a forest fire in Chandebrito village, Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain on Oct. 15.

A wild horse grazes close to a forest fire in Cures parish, in Boiro, Galicia on Oct. 15.

A firefighter kneels on the ground during a fire in Vila Nova de Poiares, Lousa, Portugal on Oct. 15.

A villager checks a burnt area in Soutomaior in Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain on Oct. 16.

A burnt sculpture is seen in As Neves, Galicia near the border with Portugal on Oct. 16.

A man fights a wildfire in Vieira de Leiria, Marinha Grande, central Portugal on Oct. 16.

Investigations were underway to find the cause of the late-season wave of hundreds of forest fires, which Iberian officials blamed mostly on arsonists and freak weather conditions. Temperatures on the Iberian Peninsula exceeded 86 Fahrenheit over the weekend and the area was raked by high winds as Hurricane Ophelia churned past in the Atlantic.

Residents hold their pets as a wildfire moves toward their houses in As Neves, Pontevedra in Galicia, Spain on Oct. 16.

A woman covers her face to protect herself from the smoke as fires burn in As Neves, Galicia, Spain on Oct. 16.

Smoke rises from a wildfire close to a house in Nigran, Galicia, Spain on Oct. 16.

A firefighter stares out at flames from a forest fire in Cabanoes, near Lousa, Portugal on Oct. 16.

Firefighters try to extinguish a fire in Cabanoes near Louzan in Portugal on Oct. 16.

Men gather cattle during a forest fire in Vieira de Leiria, Marinha Grande, Portugal on Oct. 16.

Burnt vehicles sit in a garage in Miro, near Penacova, Portugal on Oct. 17.

Farmers walk their livestock on a mountain road past burnt vegetation in San Martin de Cereixedo, Cervantes, Galicia, northern Spain on Oct. 17.

A property is burnt in the village of Travanca do Mondego in the Coimbra region of Portugal on Oct. 17, 2017.

A woman walks through the burnt forest in Vila Nova, near Vouzela, Portugal on Oct. 17.

A tree burns near Vouzela in the Viseu region of Portugal on Oct. 17.