The Portuguese Met Office has this morning placed the Algarve councils of Monchique, Silves, Loulé, São Brás de Alportel, Castro Marim, Tavira and Alcoutim on maximum fire alert, along with several other inland areas in central and northern Portugal.

This comes after the arrest of five arsonists yesterday afternoon, taking the total number of detentions to over 70 so far this summer season.