The Prime Minister of Spain Mariano Rajoy and Jorge Gomes, Portugal's secretary of state of internal administration, believed most of the fires were lit by arsonists.

[7] By 15 October 2017 winds increased, due in part to Hurricane Ophelia passing between the Azores and the peninsula, which helped fan wildfires in both Portugal and Spain.

The Portuguese Minister of Internal Administration Constança Urbano de Sousa, who resigned as a consequence, said "We have all our firefighters out there doing everything they can".

[9] A strange 'burning' smell was also reported across Devon, also attributed to the dust, and smoke from forest fires in Portugal and Spain.

"We looked at photos from satellites and the Finnish weather service confirmed that the smoke and soot of the fires in Portugal and partly the dust from the Sahara reached us," meteorologist Taimi Paljak said.