Firefighters quell some of Portugal's worst wildfires, fight still on

Thousands of firefighters tackling deadly wildfires in central and northern Portugal had largely doused the flames in the Aveiro district, one of the worst-hit, as of Thursday morning, and were focusing on a dozen blazes still raging elsewhere.

After five days of ravaging tens of thousands of hectares of forest and farmland, destroying houses and claiming seven lives, the fires in Oliveira de Azemeis, Albergaria-a-Velha and Sever da Vouga in the northwestern district of Aveiro were no longer listed as active on the civil protection service's fires portal.

Cooler air temperatures with more humidity since Wednesday have helped the firefighting efforts after an unseasonably hot streak during which gusts of wind had propagated the flames.

The weather agency IPMA predicted maximum temperatures of 22-27 degrees Celsius on Thursday across the central and northern regions, well below those recorded in recent days, which exceeded 30 C.