In the caption of the images, the operatives explain that they are "fighting against fire" and arrived in the region yesterday to tackle the blaze "in the steepest and most difficult to access areas".

"We have already started working to extinguish the forest fires on Madeira Island. Our targets yesterday were the steepest and most difficult areas for ground firefighting teams to access," they wrote, thanking everyone for the messages of support they have received.

Hours earlier, they made another post, also on Instagram, announcing their arrival in Porto Santo "to help Portugal in the fight against the major forest fire in Madeira."

It should be noted that, after being activated through the European Union's Civil Protection Mechanism, the two Spanish Canadairs took off from Malaga early Thursday bound for Porto Santo and, later, Madeira, where they are now fighting the severe fire that broke out on August 14 and has already consumed more than 5,000 hectares of scrubland and forest.