• Multiple forest fires hit Portugal

    Antonio Cotrim / EPA

    A helicopter fights fire that started close to Bairro da Milharada near Odivelas, Portugal on July 18 2012.

    Carlos Barroso / EPA

    A fireman fights fire that started at Moleanos near the city of Alcobaca, Portugal, on July 18, 2012.

    Duarte Sa / Reuters

    Flames move towards houses in Funchal, on the Portuguese island of Madeira on July 18. More than 1000 firefighters are trying to extinguish forest fires after temperatures rose up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit in several areas of the country.

    NBCNews.com's Alex Witt reports.

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  • Hector Guerrero / AFP - Getty Images

    A massive fire is seen at 'La Primavera' forest in Guadalajara, Mexico, April 25. More than 700 firefighters were sent to the site where the fire has been burning uncontrolled for almost five days.

    Hills lit up as a massive forest fire continues to burn in Mexico preserve

    By Phaedra Singelis, NBC News

    Nearly 10,000 acres have burned in the forest preserve in the past five days. The cause of the fire is unknown, though there is speculation that it started at an illegal garbage dump. The International Business Times reports that authorities have previously found outdoor drug labs in Jalisco's forests. The Latin American Herald Tribune reported that gunmen were preventing some firefighting teams from reaching the fire.

    See another photo from the fire posted previously on PhotoBlog.

  • Wildlife emerges after heath fire in Dorset, England

    Stefan Wermuth / Reuters

    A lizard clings to a charred tree branch after a blaze affecting over 5 square miles (500 hectares) of Dorset's Upton Heath was brought under control overnight near Poole in southwest England on June 10.

    Stefan Wermuth / Reuters

    A firefighter sprays water over charred ground after a blaze affecting Dorset's Upton Heath was brought under control overnight.

    By David R Arnott, NBC News

    Large forest fires are a relatively rare occurrence in the UK. Though tiny in comparison to the huge blaze still burning in Arizona, the BBC reported that yesterday's heath fire was the biggest in Dorset since 1976.

    Reuters adds some background:

    Parts of the East Anglia region in eastern England have been declared to be in a state of drought after some areas of the country had their driest spring on record, the British government said on Friday.

    Areas in southwest, southeast and central England and Wales are also experiencing near-drought conditions following prolonged sunny and dry weather from March.

  • Fabrice Coffrini / AFP - Getty Images

    Helicopters fly to drop water on a forest fire on April 27 in Viege, Switzerland. Ten helicopters and 350 firemen are battling a forest fire near the town of Viege in the south of drought-stricken Switzerland. The fire, which has consumed about 100 hectares (250 acres) of forest, broke out in the late afternoon after high winds apparently fanned flames coming from a burning car body shop at Viege. Several Swiss cantons have over the past week imposed bans on lighting fires in or near forested areas amid one of the worst droughts to hit the country in 150 years.

    Helicopters battle to douse Swiss forest fire

    Efforts continue today to douse the forest fire in Switzerland that we first reported on yesterday on PhotoBlog.

  • Forest fire in Siberia

    Ilya Naymushin / Reuters

    Dry grass, bushes and trees burn on the bank of the Yenisei River in Taiga district, near the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk on April 21. Russia faces a danger of forest fires in Siberia and its far east, following blazes that ravaged thousands of hectares of land last years, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

  • Reuters

    A firefighting aircraft flies over a forest fire on Mount Carmel near the northern city of Haifa on December 3. Firefighting aircraft from four countries flew into Israel on Friday to help battle a huge forest fire close to the northern city of Haifa that has killed at least 40 people and forced mass evacuations.

    Deadly wildfire in Israel

    By John Makely, NBC News

    For more images of the fire click here

  • Deadly forest fire kills dozens in Israel

    Uriel Sinai / Getty Images

    A section of forest burns during a wildfire, Dec. 2, 2010, in Beit Oren, Israel. A large forest fire in northern Israel has killed at least 40 people, many of whom died when an evacuation bus went up in flames.

    Roy El / AFP - Getty Images

    An Israeli plane drops fire retardant on the forest fire in the Carmel Forest, Dec. 2, 2010. The fire is so bad that Israel has called for international help to put out the blaze.

    Avishag Shar-Yashuv / Reuters

    The bodies of victims from a bus that was trapped in a forest fire that broke out in the Carmel Forest, are seen on the road near the northern Israeli city of Haifa on Thursday.

    The Associated Press reports:

    JERUSALEM — A bus burst into flames as it raced to an Israeli prison during a massive forest fire Thursday, killing dozens of prison guards participating in a rescue mission, officials said. It is one of Israel's worst natural disasters ever and has destroyed one of the country's few wooded areas.

    Fire officials said the blaze, which torched some 1,600 acres (650 hectares), remained out of control after nightfall. A university, three prisons and a hospital were evacuated and at least one village was destroyed.