Home to roughly 100 people, Roda was already ravaged by flames in 2003.

Two years ago, when massive wildfires in the region killed 114 people the flames came within about 10 kilometres (six miles) of the village located some 200 kilometres northeast of Lisbon.

"Fortunately I had several hoses and a big water tank to fight the fire, otherwise I don't know what would have become of me," Adriano Dias Silva told AFP in a hoarse voice as he tried to fix a small generator.

The 69-year-old, who lives alone, managed without any help to stop the flames from reaching his home.

But he was unable to save his orchard. Apple, mandarin and olive trees still smouldered on Monday.

He is grateful though to have survived after the violent, wind-driven blaze swept Roda on Sunday afternoon.

Perched on a hill, Roda is surrounded by pine and eucalyptus trees, a highly flammable species.

But the eucalyptus grows quickly and is largely maintenance free, putting it in high demand with the paper industry which pays a good price.

Some 50 metres downhill from his home another house was completely destroyed by flames and the fire was moving up.

"My house would have been the next one to go up in flames, with me in it. The civil protection force is a national disgrace," Silva said.

"I saw two fire trucks pass by here, not more than that, and they arrived very late."

Wearing a hat and sunglasses to protect herself against the blinding sun as the temperature nears 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), Nazare Martins roams the streets of Roda inconsolable.

"We heard on the radio that there were 1,200 firefighters mobilised but where were they to get us out of this hell?," she asks.

"Nobody came here, we all could have died!" she said in tears as a police pick-up truck rolled down the village's main street.

About 30 people were injured, including one who suffered serious burns by the wildfires which broke out on Saturday afternoon in the heavily forested Castelo Branco region.

Martins, a 71-year-old former seamstress, said she had a leg operation in 2017 and can't run. Her son works on weekends in Lisbon so she had to face the blaze on her own.

"The fire arrived in an instant. I didn't stop watering the wood stored near my house because I knew that if the flames reached it I was doomed," she said.

At the cafe in the nearby village of Cardigos, locals could not stop talking about the losses caused by the fire with a sense of revolt.

"You know why firefighters and the authorities don't come here and let everything burn? Because they think people are worthless!" said Joao Correia, a 57-year-old goat farmer.

Over 1,700 firefighters battled wildfires in Portugal over the weekend, according to the civil protection force. Stickers on their trucks showed they came from across Portugal.