More than 100 wildfires stretched thousands of firefighters to the limit in northern Portugal on Wednesday, in the worst spate of fires in recent years.

More than 100 wildfires stretched thousands of firefighters to the limit in northern Portugal on Wednesday, with seven deaths since the worst spate of fires in recent years spread out of control over the weekend.

By Pedro Nunes and Silvio Castellanos NELAS, Portugal (Reuters) -Three Portuguese firefighters died on Tuesday in one of dozens of forest blazes ravaging the country's central and northern regions, bringing the death toll from the latest wildfires to seven people since Saturday,

Five thousand firefighters struggled Tuesday to contain multiple wildfires raging across northern Portugal that are blamed for causing three deaths and forcing an unknown number of residents to flee their homes.

More than 5,000 personnel are battling a number of wildfires, the authorities said, and the prime minister called it an “extremely difficult weather situation.”

Thousands of firefighters continued their efforts to extinguish over 100 wildfires in northern Portugal on Wednesday. Seven people have died since the worst spate of fires in recent years spread out of control over the weekend.