The Portuguese Government has declared the forest fires raging across the country a public calamity, paving the way for compensation for victims. More than 3,000 firefighters, backed by 400 soldiers, were battling around 70 fires which were burning across Portugal on Monday. The Portuguese fires have claimed nine lives, thousands of hectares of forest and an unknown number of homes. "We are facing an exceptional situation," Prime Minister Jose Durao Barroso told reporters after an emergency Cabinet meeting.