Emergency services are under strain due to the ‘worst’ fires in Portugal in years, Al Jazeera’s Sonia Gallego says.

A man was killed while helping fight wildfires that have been scorching Portugal, the country's civil protection service has said, bringing the death toll from the fires to three.

In neighbouring Portugal, where fires are also blazing, another firefighter was killed on Sunday in a "tragic" traffic accident, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said. Fires have also broken out in Greece, France, Turkey and the Balkans as a heatwave has scorched swathes of southern Europe.

Wildfires have ravaged more than 450,000 hectares of land across the Iberian peninsula since the start of the year, setting records in a region particularly hard hit by intensive heatwaves and drought affecting southern Europe.

Cooler conditions are helping Spanish and Portuguese firefighters tackle deadly blazes that have forced tens of thousands of people to flee over the past two weeks.

A heatwave is continuing to affect the Iberian Peninsula. Thousands of firefighters have been deployed to battle ongoing blazes and towns have been evacuated. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited affected regions to meet with the heads of emergency teams.

A man has died after being run over by a bulldozer he was operating while fighting wildfires in Portugal, bringing the death toll in the country to three, officials said.

Spanish and Portuguese authorities, backed by Europol, have seized more than seven tonnes of clams unfit for human consumption and arrested 11 suspects accused of making at least