At least four other significant wildfires were burning Sunday elsewhere in Portugal but the one in Pedrogao Grande was responsible for all the deaths. Portugal, like most southern European countries, is prone to forest fires in the dry summer months.
Portugal sweltered under a severe heatwave over the weekend, with temperatures topping 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in several regions. The forest industry, especially the production of paper pulp, accounts for around 3 percent of GDP. It rebuked authorities for allowing the planting of huge swathes of eucalyptus trees - the country's most common and most profitable species - but one that's often blamed for stoking blazes.
Former Tottenham and Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas will donate €100,000 to the victims of the Pedrogao Grande fire in Portugal.
Dry thunderstorms are frequent when falling water evaporates before reaching the ground because of high temperatures.
A lightning strike is believed to have sparked the blaze after investigators found a tree that was hit during a "dry thunderstorm", the head of the national judicial police told Portuguese media. The tree was in the village of Escalos Fundeiros, said police chief Almeida Rodrigues.
Portugal endured a three-year recession after needing a 78 billion-euro ($83 billion) worldwide bailout in 2011. Government officials said an assessment will be made of the cause. Forest management was no exception, with less money for preventive measures such as forest cleaning.
Some victims got stuck in their cars and on the side of the road in what officials described as the "greatest wildfire tragedy of recent years".
It hires aircraft from private companies or relies on the European Union's sharing program under which neighboring countries such as Spain, France and Italy send in aircraft when they can.
Guterres, in a statement issued on Sunday, condoled the Portuguese Government and people, saying he was "shocked and horrified" at the many lives claimed by the raging wildfires.
Not all of those reforms have come into legal force yet.
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We must all be builders of understanding, compassion and peace, day by day, in our homes, our work and our communities. The attack comes during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan when Muslims were attending special prayers.
There is a broad consensus that more work is needed on prevention, starting with forest cleaning and the creation of fire breaks.
"In Portugal, the main factor in the scale of wildfires is the unbroken stretches of forest", said Prof.
"In Portugal, the main factor in the scale of wildfires is the unbroken stretches of forest", Paulo Fernandes, a forest researcher at Portugal's Tras-os-Montes e Alto Douro University, told the AP.
The worldwide community stepped in to help, with neighbouring Spain as well as France sending water-bombing planes.
In 2015 and 2016, Portugal had some 50 firefighting aircraft at its disposal, majority rented.
Authorities say that altogether 135 people were treated as a result of the blaze, including 13 firefighters and one soldier.
A French person is among the more than 60 people killed in wildfires sweeping through central Portugal. "We were only able to save two goats", she said.
"Portugal knows exactly what it needs to do, and that is the sad thing about the current situation", Stoof told the Associated Press.
The government declared Sunday through Tuesday as national days of mourning for the victims of a fire "which has caused an irreparable loss of human life".
She maintains there is a lack of control over who owns and is responsible for maintaining many land plots in Portugal. Villages dot the landscape, much of it now scorched. "So what we must do now is to calmly provide all the resources to fight the fires". In comparison, past year fires across Portugal killed four people, including three on the island of Madeira. It has been over 50 years since 25 Portuguese soldiers perished fighting wildfires in 1966.
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