More than 3,300 firefighters backed by hundreds of vehicles and 38 aircraft and helicopters, including several rushed in from other European countries, struggled to contain dozens of fires across Portugal, AFP reported.

Officials said 32 fires were out of control and a national state of emergency was declared in the central Coimbra region, where the fire was advancing on several fronts including on the outskirts of the tourist resort of Miranda do Corvo, not far from Coimbra, the parched nation's third-largest city.

Prime Minister Jose Socrates visited the affected area Monday night and pledged that measures to help the population would be put into effect immediately.

A woman cries as a firefighter tries to extinguish a wildfire in Carreira do Mato, near Abrantes, 180 Km north east of Lisbon. Fire-fighting aircraft from Germany, Italy and the Netherlands headed to Portugal as the country struggled to contain the biggest wave of wildfires to hit so far this year, with hot weather set to continue.[AFP]

Two French Canadair aircraft adapted for scooping up water from lakes and dropping it on fires joined the struggle on Monday, along with a Spanish Canadair.

Five German and Dutch helicopters and an Italian Canadair were to join the fray on Tuesday after Portugal invoked a European Union mechanism for help in an emergency.

Police announced the arrest of three arsonists, bringing to 98 the total of pyromaniacs arrested so far this year.

Firefighters work on a burning house in the village of Almalagues, near Coimbra, 200 kilometers (120 miles) north of Lisbon, Monday, Aug. 22, 2005. [Reuters]

Portugal is suffering one of the biggest wave of wildfires in memory as a result of a heatwave and drought not experienced since the 1940s.