As Europe approaches the end of a wildfire season that has been milder than those of recent years — yet still devastating in certain areas — firefighters in Portugal are battling blazes that have wreaked havoc across the country and left at least three firefighters dead.

       Portugal’s government declared a day of mourning for Friday, local media reported, as the country is under a state of emergency.

       Three firefighters died while fighting blazes in Tábua in central Portugal, the country’s Ministry of Internal Administration said in a statement Tuesday. Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro said the firefighters were “heroes who gave their lives defending Portugal and the Portuguese people. The greatest tribute we can pay them is to continue fighting, as they did.”

       André Fernandes, commander of the National Emergency and Civil Protection Agency, said at a news conference Tuesday that some of the fires were “beyond extinguishing capacity,” Portuguese newspaper Expresso reported. Fernandes added that the authorities were focusing on “preserving human life and property.”

       The fires were concentrated in the northern half of the country, according to European Union data, which showed that as of Thursday, more than 186,000 acres burned in the past day. Montenegro’s office said in a statement Thursday that the government would pursue “criminals” who were alleged to have set some of the fires intentionally.

       Portugal was going through “difficult days” due to the fires, Montenegro wrote on X. He thanked France, Greece, Italy and Spain for their help in battling the fires. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said eight planes had been mobilized via the E.U. Civil Protection Mechanism.

       The European Commission said in a statement in May that it was readying a series of “protective measures” in preparation for the wildfire season, including deploying more than 500 firefighters across “strategic locations” in the European Union.

       While there have been more wildfires in Europe this year than average, the amount of area burned and the carbon dioxide emitted by them have been lower than average, suggesting the fires have not been as devastating as usual.

       Still, even aside from the destruction in Portugal this week, Europe has not gone through the summer unscathed. Last month, a wildfire with flames reaching as high as 80 feet scorched the Athens area in Greece, forcing evacuations in the height of tourism season. A bout of wildfires in Greece last summer were the largest ever recorded in the European Union, burning more than 230,000 acres.

       Human-caused climate change has worsened wildfire risks in Europe and around the world. Scientists warn that a warming world and changing weather patterns have led to longer fire seasons and conditions that are ripe for fires to burn larger areas more intensely.

       “The fire risk is expected to further increase due to climate change,” according to the E.U. civil protection agency. “The season will be increasingly characterized by massive fires that cost lives and burn areas that take longer to fully recover.”

       Even as swaths of Portugal burned, central Europe suffered the aftermath of floods brought on by an extreme storm named Boris over the weekend, which left at least 12 people dead. Climate change probably intensified the storm, The Washington Post reported.