Zapatero left Lanzarote in the Canary Islands mid-afternoon for Santiago de Compostela, regional capital of Galicia, which was still battling more than 70 fires in the early afternoon, 17 of which were out of control.

The blazes have left three people dead in recent days.

Noting the "very high number of fires" Zapatero said police were working "with all resources at their disposal" to track down the "criminals" who had set fires. He also saluted the emergency services' firefighting efforts.

Civil guard head Joan Mesquida said the police were offering protection to anyone who wanted to inform on someone they suspected of arson and added that "various lines of investigation" were being followed up.

Neighbouring states meanwhile rallied round to offer support to Spain.

France and Italy both dispatched two fire-fighting aircraft Wednesday afternoon on a two-day mission after the European Commission said Madrid had requested three Canadair fire-fighting airplanes, five helicopters equipped with special water buckets and 20 firetrucks.

Portugal, itself afflicted by fires of its own, said it would send around 60 firefighters and 19 fire trucks to Galicia after Interior Minister Antonio Costa cited his country's "duty of solidarity with Spain."

The Portuguese group of firefighters were due to work over a period of seven days but Lisbon added that, given its own problems with fires, it could not relinquish any aircraft.

The deputy leader of the Galician regional government, Anxo Quintana, told Cadena Sur radio on Tuesday evening that more than 10,000 hectares (more than 24,700 acres) had been affected.

More than 1,200 soldiers have been sent to the region to help coordinate evacuations and to discourage arsonists, while more than 50 fire-fighting airplanes and 6,500 firefighters battled the blazes.

Environment Minister Cristina Narbona, who earlier spoke of a "wave of arson," lamented that "the situation has worsened despite an increase in resources."

Several people who braved journeys by car through the affected region took pictures of what they had seen along the way, with Spanish newspaper El Mundo publishing a selection of the most spectacular.

One, taken in the early afternoon, showed a skyline pitch black, save for the flames, while another amateur snapper described the city of Orense as "surrounded by a ring of fire."

Although Galicia suffers from massive forest fires each year, the government has had to deploy "unprecedented" resources this summer.

Five suspected arsonists have been arrested since Monday, one of whom has since been released.

Over the border in Portugal, which has also seen high temperatures and a wave of fires since last week, over 1,400 firefighters backed by 400 vehicles battled 21 blazes Wednesday, 14 out of control, the national fire service said.

Fires were reported in ten of mainland Portugal's 18 administrative districts as temperatures soared to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in some parts of the country, forcing the closure of several roads.

One wind-fueled blaze near the southern city of Setubal, home to Portugal's third-largest port, was threatening dozens of homes, emergency services workers said.

About 100 firefighters backed by two water-dropping helicopters were at the scene of that fire.

Meanwhile a violent fire started Tuesday evening in an illegal rubbish dump in Greece, in the Corinth region, west of Athens, damaging several hundred hectares of forest and arable land, firefighters said Wednesday.

Some 300 hectares have already been burned and three villages were evacuated overnight as a precaution, said Prokopis Byzas, deputy mayor of Evrostinis where the fire broke out.

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