a fire devastates the Serra da Estrela and burns more than 17,000 hectares in 10 days

More of 1,000 troops fight the fire that devastates the Serra de Estrelain Portugal, more than 10 days ago, and which has already burned more than 17,000 hectares of natural park.

The first warning of the fire was given at dawn on the 6th and the authorities considered it controlled this Sunday. However, this Monday it was reactivated in three simultaneous outbreaks in the municipalities of Manteigas, Covilhã and Guarda. At around 7.30 a.m. the flames were being fought by 1061 men, supported by 330 vehicles.

The last point of the situation, indicated that the flames burned with a “high intensity”, registering a “violent behavior”. “It is a fire with a violent behavior, in many areas with a high intensity,” said André Fernandes, national commander of Civil Protection, at a press conference at the ANEPC national headquarters, in Carnaxide, in the municipality of Oeiras (Lisbon). ).

During the night of Monday, the rescue means carried out “the confinement or the evacuation of the different villages that are in the line of fire”. According to the commander, the reactivation of the fire in Serra da Estrela originated from “three simultaneous outbreaks in Vale da Amoreira”, in Manteigas, “with expansion to the municipalities of Covilhã and Guarda”. Everything indicates that it was an arson attack.

Although this week there were other rural fires in the Serra da Estrela, this fire, which broke out in the early hours of the 6th in Covilhã, stood out for its size, since it was only brought under control a week later, on Friday the 12th at night. In addition to reaching the municipality of Covilhã, it reached Manteigas, Gouveia, Guarda and Celorico da Beira. The Serra da Estrela Natural Park, close to the Spanish provinces of Salamanca and Cáceres, is the largest protected area in Portugal.

The Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA) reported this Friday that the entire continental territory of Portugal is in a situation of extreme or severe drought, after a “very dry” month of July and with the highest temperatures in the last 92 years.

119 arrested

The Portuguese authorities have arrested this year 119 people suspected of causing a forest fire, announced this Sunday the Portuguese Minister of Internal Administration, José Luís Carneiro. “We had 119 detainees, both by the National Republican Guard and by the Judicial Police,” said the minister, according to the Lusa agency.

Carneiro explained that the inspection work has intensified in collaboration with the police, military and more technical equipment, which has allowed this 2022 “an arrest rate that is well above double the arrest rate in previous years“.

The most recent report from the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF, for its acronym in Portuguese) states that this year, until July 31, fires burned 58,354 hectares of forest mass. The burned area is 59% greater than the annual average of the previous ten years.