Wildfires in Portugal blamed for at least six deaths as Europe sends aircraft to help

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Five thousand firefighters struggled Tuesday to contain multiple wildfires raging across northern Portugal that are blamed for causing at least six deaths including four firefighters and forcing an unknown number of residents to flee their homes.

Some 100 fires reported by national authorities stretched the firefighting brigades. Authorities have yet to give figures on how many people have had to evacuate and how many homes have been lost. Over 50 people have been injured.

Civil Protection official André Fernandes said that three firefighters had died while traveling by road Tuesday, but it was not known if their vehicle had crashed before it was engulfed by flames. The deaths of two civilians were confirmed, one from burns and the other from cardiac arrest, and one more firefighter died from an unspecified illness while on duty, over the weekend.

With no rain forecast, national authorities prolonged an alert for fires until Thursday. The measure included a ban on farmers using heavy machinery to harvest crops because of the risk of sparks that could start more fires.

The hot, dry conditions behind the outbreaks in Portugal came while downpours caused flooding in central Europe.

“I would like to say within a word of calm and tranquility we also need to be realistic,” Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro said late on Monday. “We will endure difficult hours in the coming days. We need to prepare for it and we need to come together for it.”

Among the hardest hit areas is the district of Aveiro, south of the northern city of Porto, but blazes were also raging out of control in other wooded areas. Portuguese state broadcaster RTP showed images of houses burnt to the ground and smoke billowing over charred terrain in the area of Castro de Aire.

Ground units were supported by Portuguese water-dropping aircraft. Fellow European Union members Spain, France Italy and Greece have committed to providing eight more planes to help local forces.

“The EU stands with Portugal as it battles major wildfires,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a message on X. “I thank France, Greece, Italy and Spain for their rapid reaction. This is EU solidarity at its best.”

Still, televised images showed some residents wielding tree branches and buckets of water to try to save their homes from encroaching fires.

Portugal was devasted by massive fires in 2017 that killed over 120 people and burned over half a million hectares.

Joseph Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain.

Firefighting airplanes drop water on a fire burning near houses in Sever do Vouga, a town in northern Portugal that has been surrounded by wildfires, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruno Fonseca)

Firefighters work to control a fire at a metalworking warehouse in Sever do Vouga, a town in northern Portugal that has been surrounded by forest fires, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruno Fonseca)

Smoke fills the air in Sever do Vouga, a town in northern Portugal that has been surrounded by forest fires, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruno Fonseca)

Firefighters work to control a fire next to warehouses in Sever do Vouga, a town in northern Portugal that has been surrounded by wildfires fires, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruno Fonseca)

Firefighters work to control a fire next to a metalworking warehouse in Sever do Vouga, a town in northern Portugal that has been surrounded by forest fires, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruno Fonseca)

Firefighting airplanes drop water on a fire burning in Sever do Vouga, a town in northern Portugal that has been surrounded by forest fires, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruno Fonseca)

A man carries a fire extinguisher and seeks on the phone while a metalworking warehouse burns in Sever do Vouga, a town in northern Portugal that has been surrounded by forest fires, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruno Fonseca)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A state appeals court will decide whether to dismiss felony voter misconduct charges against an Alaska resident born in American Samoa, one of numerous cases that has put a spotlight on the complex citizenship status of people born in the U.S. territory.

The Alaska Court of Appeals heard arguments Thursday in the case against Tupe Smith, who was arrested after winning election to a regional school board in 2023. Smith has said she relied on erroneous information from local election officials in the community of Whittier when she identified herself as a U.S. citizen on voter registration forms.

American Samoa is the only U.S. territory where residents are not automatically granted citizenship by being born on American soil and instead are considered U.S. nationals. Paths to citizenship exist, such as naturalization, though that process can be expensive and cumbersome.

American Samoans can serve in the military, obtain U.S. passports and vote in elections in American Samoa, but they cannot hold public office in the U.S. or participate in most U.S. elections.

Smith's attorneys have asked the appeals court to reverse a lower court's decision that let stand the indictment brought against her. Smith's supporters say she made an innocent mistake that does not merit charges, but the state has argued that Smith falsely and deliberately claimed citizenship.

State prosecutors separately have brought charges against 10 other people from American Samoa in Whittier, including Smith’s husband, Michael Pese.

Thursday's arguments centered on the meaning of the word intentionally.

Smith “and others like her who get caught up in Alaska’s confusing election administration system and do not have any intent to mislead or deceive should not face felony voter misconduct charges,” one of her attorneys, Whitney Brown, told the court.

But Kayla Doyle, an assistant attorney general, said that as part of ensuring election integrity, it's important that oaths being relied upon are accurate.

About 25 people gathered on a snowy street outside the Anchorage courthouse before Thursday’s hearing to support Smith. Some carried signs that read, ”We support Samoans.”

State Sen. Forrest Dunbar, a Democrat who attended the rally, said the Alaska Department of Law has limited resources.

“We should be going after people who are genuine criminals, who are violent criminals, or at least have the intent to deceive,” he said.

In a court filing in 2024, one of Smith's previous attorneys said that when Smith answered questions from the Alaska state trooper who arrested her, she said she was aware that she could not vote in presidential elections but was “unaware of any other restrictions on her ability to vote."

Smith said she marks herself as a U.S. national on paperwork. But when there was no such option on voter registration forms, she was told by city representatives that it was appropriate to mark U.S. citizen, according to the filing.

Smith “exercised what she believed was her right to vote in a local election. She did so without any intent to mislead or deceive anyone,” her current attorneys said in a filing in September. “Her belief that U.S. nationals may vote in local elections, which was supported by advice from City of Whittier election officials, was simply mistaken.”

The state has said Smith falsely and deliberately claimed citizenship. Prosecutors pointed to the language on the voter application forms she filled out in 2020 and 2022, which explicitly said that if the applicant was not at least 18 years old and a U.S. citizen, “do not complete this form, as you are not eligible to vote.”

The counts Smith was indicted on “did not have anything to do with her belief in her ability to vote in certain elections; rather they concerned the straightforward question of whether or not Smith intentionally and falsely swore she was a United States citizen,” Doyle said in a court filing last year.

One of Smith's attorneys, Neil Weare, co-founder of the Washington-based Right to Democracy Project, has said the appeals court could dismiss the case or send it back to the lower court “to consider whether the state can meet the standard it has set forth for voter misconduct.” The state also could decide to file other charges if the case is dismissed, he said.

The court did not give a timeline for when it would issue a ruling.

Bohrer reported from Juneau, Alaska.

State Sen. Forrest Dunbar, left, stands with supporters of Tupe Smith gathered Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, outside the Boney Courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska, ahead of the Alaska Court of Appeals hearing a challenge to the voter misconduct case brought against American Samoa native Tupe Smith by the state. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

Supporters of Tupe Smith gather outside the Boney Courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, ahead of the Alaska Court of Appeals hearing a challenge to the voter misconduct case brought against American Samoa native Tupe Smith by the state. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

Michael Pese and his wife, Tupe Smith, stand outside the Boney Courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, ahead of the Alaska Court of Appeals hearing a challenge to the voter fraud case brought against her by the state. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

Michael Pese, left, his wife, Tupe Smith, and their son Maximus pose for a photo outside the Boney Courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, ahead of the Alaska Court of Appeals hearing a challenge to the voter fraud case brought against her by the state. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

FILE - Tupe Smith poses for a photo outside the school in Whittier, Alaska, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)