The fires in Castro Daire and S. Pedro do Sul are causing the most problems, with several villages at risk due to the flames. On the ground, firefighters are conducting house-to-house defense and counting on the collaboration of civil protection, authorities, GNR, and the population.
In the village of Adenodeiro, more resources and personnel are being requested due to the flames threatening this and three other villages.
“Right now [around 8:45 PM] we are facing some problems in Adenodeiro. We are focused and mobilized with more resources and personnel to protect people and property,” stated the commander of the Farejinhas Volunteer Firefighters.
Horácio Ribeiro added, “the strategy continues to be to protect people and primary homes, because there are no resources to fight the fire itself.”
“In the village of Ribolhos, things are a bit calmer, but we have the villages of Alva, Granja, and Folgosa also threatened, which require our attention, as they are in the line of fire,” he said.
According to the official, the fire “has already entered the municipality of São Pedro do Sul and is at the limit of Viseu, in Côta, where teams from the Forest Police of Viseu are trying to prevent it from entering” this area.
“During the night, we will try to use bulldozers to start delineating the flames. We will see what we can achieve and what the wind will be like,” said Horácio Ribeiro.
This fire in the municipality of Castro Daire originated around 9:23 PM on Monday, in Soutelo, parish of Mões. It spread to the Municipality of São Pedro do Sul and was mobilizing, by 8:30 PM, 208 personnel, supported by 59 vehicles.
In the situation report made around 8:30 PM by the Viseu Dão Lafões regional sub-command, there were 735 personnel and 517 vehicles in the region at that time.
According to commander Miguel Ângelo David, “there are four active fires that are of greater concern. They are in Castro Daire, Vila Nova de Paiva, Penalva do Castelo with projections in Mangualde, and the Folhadal fire which has extended to Carregal do Sal and Tábua.”
“Everyone is doing a work of great complexity,” emphasized the commander, who referred to winds of between 70 and 75 kilometers/hour with gusts that have been the main enemy in combating the fires. “Imagine this in the mountains of Montemuro or S. Macário,” he exemplified to show the “great challenge” of facing not only the simultaneity of the fires but also their intensity.
The Viseu Dão Lafões Sub-regional Command also reported that the fire that broke out around 11:53 AM on Monday in Folhadal, municipality of Nelas, was mobilizing 331 personnel, supported by 94 vehicles.
This fire in Nelas spread to the neighboring municipalities of Carregal do Sal, district of Viseu, and to the municipalities of Tábua and Oliveira do Hospital, in the district of Coimbra.
Still in the district of Viseu, in the municipality of Penalva do Castelo, the fire in Miuzela remains active, which broke out at 12:15 AM on Monday and has spread to the Municipality of Mangualde, mobilizing 168 personnel with 46 vehicles. The municipal emergency plan has been activated, as is happening in all municipalities affected by the flames. Schools are closed.
According to the Territorial Command of Viseu of the National Republican Guard (GNR), the following roads are closed to traffic due to the fires in Castro Daire: A24, between Mamouros and Viseu, EN2, between Mamouros and Ribolhos, and EN228, between Fermontelos and Figueiredo de Alva.
In the district of Viseu, the A25 is also closed, between Mangualde and Chãs de Tavares, the Complementary Itinerary 12 (IC12) in Nelas and Carregal do Sal, and the EN 16, 231, and 329 in Mangualde, Nelas, and Penalva do Castelo.
The fire in Mangualde caused a fatality during the night due to sudden illness. According to a source from the Viseu Dão Lafões Sub-regional Command, the house did not burn down.
According to the mayors of Nelas, Mangualde, and Penalva do Castelo, “there are reports of burned residential houses and agricultural machinery,” but none of the mayors have yet managed to account for the respective numbers.
At the end of the afternoon on Tuesday, the mayor of Mangualde reported that resources were being concentrated near residences as night approached, while avoiding the flames from crossing roads. “One can speak of a calmer situation from the point of view of the parishes that were threatened by the flames, but the fire remains of great intensity,” he said.
The Government declared today a state of calamity in all municipalities affected by the fires in recent days.
The announcement was made by the Prime Minister at the end of an extraordinary Council of Ministers convened to analyze “the entire situation relating to the fires and their consequences,” in a meeting presided over by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, at the invitation of Luís Montenegro.
On Monday, the Government extended the alert situation until the end of Thursday due to the risk of fires, in light of weather forecasts.
The law stipulates that the state of calamity is declared by the Government, by resolution of the Council of Ministers.
The Prime Minister explained that the declaration of a state of calamity will allow the multidisciplinary team from the Government – coordinated by the Minister of State and Territorial Cohesion Manuel Castro Almeida – to “offer the most immediate and urgent support to those who do not have a shelter or accommodation for the coming days, to those who have lost their means of subsistence to feed themselves, to dress, to have access to the most basic needs of daily life.”
The Prime Minister reiterated that “there are people who have lost their homes, there are people who have been unable to go to work, there are companies that are inhibited from producing.”
“The Portuguese people and companies are elements of bravery of the Portuguese people and therefore deserve from the public authorities and the Government in particular speed and agility in all the responses that are needed,” he said.
Montenegro stated, as he had on Monday, that the Government is “well aware that the difficult hours are not over yet.”
“We will still have to continue giving everything we have and asking for help from our partners and friends to reinforce the protection of people and property,” he warned.
The Prime Minister began his statement, without questions, by thanking the President of the Republic “for his expression of institutional and strategic solidarity.”
“Secondly, to reiterate our sorrow for the loss of three brave firefighters who were serving all of us, to express in them gratitude to all those still on the ground protecting the people and property of the Portuguese,” he said, promising that the Government will not “give up.”
Since Sunday, seven people have died and around 40 have been injured, two seriously.