CYNTHIA ADINA KIRKWOOD

A solidarity bank account has been created for the victims of the fires in Oliveira do Hospital, Portugal, managed by the municipal government, and the funds will be applied quickly and appropriately applied to the support of victims. The donations must be done through the municipality's specially established bank account. The bank account's IBAN is as follows: PT50 0035 0567 00026953430 37 and the BIC, or SWIFT, code is as follows: CGDIPTPL. Thank you for your consideration.

Una semana depois as chamas devoram 520 milhoes de hectares em Portugal, as pessoas ainda estão em estado de choque. Todos perderam algo –seus familiares, suas casas e suas terras. A hora mais escura e antes do amanhecer. Ainda temos amanha. One week after a horrific conflagration of hundreds of fires burned half a million hectares in central and northern Portugal, people are still in shock. Everyone lost something – their loved ones, their homes, their land. The darkest hour

I thought that I was safe from fire moving to the edge of my village, Fiais da Beira in central Portugal. Still, the October 15, 2017 fire burned much of my 1.6 hectares of olive trees, grapevines and fruit trees. My 14-year-old son and I fled the house when we spotted columns of flames charging toward us in thickened, eye-stinging smoke. The left road out of the village was engulfed in fire. I turned right and tried to drive to the town of Tabua 17 kilometers away. However,