Several towns are threatened by the flames. The fire broke out in the municipality of Covilha on Saturday. A whole nature park burned down.
At least 3,000 hectares of vegetation have gone up in flames in a forest fire in a natural park in Portugal. According to initial information from local authorities, four firefighters were injured in the Serra da Estrela in the center of the country. Several towns are threatened by the flames. The fire broke out in the municipality of Covilha on Saturday. Meanwhile, firefighters battle a “monster” fire in the French region of Landiras.
At the beginning of the week, the forest fire in Portugal initially seemed under control – but then flared up again on Tuesday afternoon. About 1,000 firefighters are fighting the flames. The Serra da Estrela Natural Park is located in the highest area of mainland Portugal, with the highest peaks reaching almost 2000 meters above sea level. The environmental protection organization Quercus fears that the fires will result in a significant loss of biodiversity.
Exceptional dryness
Like many other countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, Portugal is suffering from exceptional drought this year. The National Meteorological Institute recorded the hottest July in over 100 years. According to figures from the ICNF nature conservation institute, 70,000 hectares of vegetation have gone up in flames since the beginning of the year.
The forest fire in France is affecting a region near the heartland of the Bordeaux wine-growing region. “I would classify the fire in Landiras as a mega fire,” said Gregory Allione from the French fire brigade association FNSPF to the RTL radio station. “He’s a monster, a monster.” Forest fires broke out in the Gironde region this week, destroying houses and evacuating around 10,000 residents. Some of the residents had to be rescued from the roofs of their homes because the flames were so close.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne wanted to visit the Gironde during the day to get an overview for herself. In view of the extreme heat and severe drought, numerous fires have recently raged in France and other European countries. More than 6,800 hectares of forest have been burned. Authorities warned temperatures would remain very high through Saturday. The area had already been severely affected in July. At that time, more than 20,000 hectares of forest were destroyed, and almost 40,000 people had to evacuate their homes at times.
France receives European support in the fight against the violent forest fires on the Atlantic coast. The EU Commission has sent four firefighting aircraft to France via the European civil protection mechanism, which were previously stationed in Greece and Spain, as the Brussels authorities announced on Thursday. In addition, fire brigade teams from Austria, Germany, Poland and Romania are on their way to France to support the French forces. “Our partners are helping France,” said President Emmanuel Macron. “European solidarity works.” In the afternoon, the Austrian Interior Ministry asked which forces are supporting France, a spokesman said.
The fire brigade also fought a large forest fire on the Greek holiday island of Thassos on Thursday. A village had to be evacuated. Six firefighting planes, six helicopters and hundreds of firefighters, volunteers and military units are deployed to stop the flames, the fire department announced in the morning. The island in the north of the Aegean is densely forested. Thick clouds of smoke could be seen from afar in the morning, local media reported. No one has been injured so far, the mayor of the island, Lefteris Kyriakidis, said on state radio.
A fire also broke out on Thursday near the Italian port of Trieste, in the Duino area. Because of the high flames, the motorway exit towards Trieste was closed, the authorities said. The lockdown was necessary to allow firefighters to extinguish the fire. A helicopter was also in action. It is already the fifth major fire in the karst area in the past three weeks. So far, more than 500 hectares of forest have been destroyed. Investigators suspect arson. In the past few weeks, the fires in Friuli Venezia Giulia have even disrupted regional rail traffic and the A4 motorway (Venice-Trieste).
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