The fire brigade said Monday it largely circumscribed a forest fire that burns since Saturday in central Portugal but feared that the fire would revive the flames at the end of the day in this region where fires had made more than a hundred deaths in 2017.
"The fire was" 90% controlled. For now, we're blowing. But we remain cautious "for the rest of the day because of weather conditions, warned Pedro Nunes, spokesman of the services of the civil protection, during a press conference at the beginning of the afternoon.
Seven regions in the center and south of the country were placed on Monday in high alert to fires
Winds will reach up to 35 kilometers per hour in the afternoon and temperatures up to 39 degrees, depending on weather forecasts. Seven regions in the center and south of the country were placed on Monday in high alert to fires.
More than 1200 firefighters and 13 aircraft, with 370 vehicles, from all over Portugal, were still mobilized in the Castelo Braco region, 200 km north of Lisbon, to deal with the flames in difficult areas. access, according to figures from the National Civil Protection Authority.
The forest fires broke out on Saturday afternoon on three fronts and the following night several hamlets were evacuated as a precaution. On Sunday, the firefighters' work was complicated by winds with changing directions that caused many fire recoveries, while firefighters initially hoped to narrow the last of the three incidents during the day. But faced with the scale of the disaster, some residents found themselves left to stop the flames at the doors of their homes. The goal on Monday was to "reduce fire recoveries," said the spokesman for civil protection.
Already 31 wounded
The fires have so far injured 31 people, including eight firefighters, most of whom are intoxicated by the smoke. President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who visited a serious wounded man who had been evacuated to a Lisbon hospital, expressed "solidarity" with the fire brigade and the affected population. The judicial police opened an investigation to determine the circumstances of these forest fires. "How is it that five significant fires start in such close areas?" Interior Minister Eduardo Cabrita had questioned Sunday.
A suspected 55-year-old arsonist, suspected of setting fire near Castelo Branco, without presumably playing a role in the widespread fires that broke out Saturday, was arrested on Sunday, police said. Civil protection spokesman Pedro Nunes called on Monday afternoon residents of the areas affected by the fires to "remain vigilant" and to follow promptly "the indications given by the security forces".
An area covered with forest
This hilly and forest-covered region is regularly a prey to fires. The deadliest in Portugal's history killed 114 people in 2017, in two waves in June and again in October. Very affected by the rural exodus, these hills are hardly inhabited any more than by old people. They are planted with pines and eucalyptus, an extremely flammable species but very much in demand by the paper industry. Despite the risks, the owners continue to plant eucalyptus, which grow very quickly and represent a significant source of income.
According to a study of the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) published in May, more than 250,000 hectares went up in smoke across Europe between January and April 2019, a total that has already exceeded 181,000 hectares burned throughout the 2018 fire season.