Since January, more than 94,000 hectares have gone up in smoke in the country. Portugal, hit by a third heat wave since the beginning of July, was fighting several fires on Monday, August 22, while the country was placed on alert until Tuesday due to the risk of fires of forest. In the afternoon of Monday, nearly 2,000 firefighters were mobilized to put out the flames across the territory, according to civil protection data.
The biggest blaze was raging in the Vila Real region, in the north of the country, and had been progressing since the day before inside a mountainous area difficult to access. “According to provisional estimates, this fire burned 4,500 hectares”said the national commander of civil protection, André Fernandes, during a situation update at midday.
To fight this forest fire, Portugal could count from Monday on the support of two Greek Canadairs sent as part of the European Solidarity Mechanism.
State of alert declared on Sunday
The state of alert, decreed by the government on Sunday, notably restricts access to forests, prohibits pyrotechnic shows and plans to strengthen the level of relief mobilization.
Portugal, which is suffering from an exceptional drought this year, experienced the hottest month of July in nearly a century. During the days of Monday and Tuesday, the Portuguese Meteorological Institute (IPMA) predicted temperatures around 40 degrees Celsius in the interior regions of the country.
Alone, the forest fire in the Serra da Estrela Natural Park, a mountainous region in central Portugal classified by Unesco, consumed more than 25,000 hectares of vegetation in eleven days, before being declared under control on Wednesday .
Faced with the magnitude of this blaze, the government has decided to decree soon “the state of natural disaster”, which will allow rapid aid to be released, said the Minister of the Presidency, Mariana Vieira da Silva, to the press. after a meeting on Monday with the mayors of the affected municipalities.
“Over the next fortnight, the State services and the municipalities will proceed to the survey of the damage and prejudice of this fire”specified the Minister, before adding that a “revitalization plan” of this natural park will be presented in September.
According to scientists, global warming increases the likelihood of heat waves as well as droughts and, in turn, forest fires.