Portugal: 24,000 hectares ravaged by fire in the Serra da Estrela natural park

Residents watch the forest fire progressing in Orjais, a village in the municipality of Covilha, in central Portugal, on August 16, 2022. AFP - PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA

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1 min

Still worrying fires in Portugal, in the central massif of the Serra da Estrela, which is home to a natural park.

Portugal is the third European country with the highest number of hectares burned since January 1: 75,000 hectares, behind Spain and Romania, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).

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With our correspondent in Lisbon,

The fire in the Serra da Estrela started on August 6th.

He had been mastered for the first time, but he started again on Monday August 15, the Assumption holiday, for an unexplained reason and on three fronts at the same time, to the astonishment of the emergency services.

In the mountains, often inaccessible, they had to reorganize several times to try to control the fire.

On Wednesday August 17, the fire only presented a single front, but the wind, which sometimes blows violently, is the worst enemy of the 1,300 firefighters mobilized.

On the outskirts of Orjais, a small village considered one of the gateways to the natural park, the situation was critical, with fire at the doors of the houses.

But the population refused to leave to save homes and animals.

If Orjais was spared, it is not the same for the Serra da Estrela natural park, of which 24,000 hectares went up in smoke.

This is a quarter of the entire park, and the damage to biodiversity is considerable.

Firefighters will try to control the fire before Saturday, when a new heat wave is announced.

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• Environment

• Natural disasters