Firefighters take a rare break amidst Portuguese forest fires

A photograph showing Portuguese firefighters resting during a brief pause in tackling the country's deadliest forest fire on record went viral after being posted online on Sunday, June 18.

Images taken by firefighter Pedro Bras show a number of his colleagues lying on their overcoats on a section of grass beside a river in Alvares, Portugal. Since being posted one of the images has been shared over 77,000 times.

Portugal has carried out a massive operation to combat the fire, which has killed at least 64 people.

The fire, about 125 miles northeast of capital Lisbon, spread rapidly after starting on Saturday, June 17th, killing many people in their cars as they tried to flee the blaze.

Several other fires have now spread through the region and there are now more than 2,000 firefighters involved in the efforts, said Victor Vaz Pinto, commander of the civil protection agency.