“The situation is very critical”

The wave of forest fires that is ravaging Portugal, especially in the northern and central regions of the country, has already caused Seven dead, 50 injured and thousands of hectares burnedA tragic outcome that has forced the neighbouring country to mobilise some 5,300 troops and ask the European Union for help.

Portugal has declared an alert since last Saturday due to the More than 60 fires are still active throughout the country. As the situation has not improved, the Portuguese government has decided to extend the alert for fire danger until Thursday.

The death toll has risen on Tuesday after The death of three firefighters while fighting the flames, which adds to another who died last Sunday. Of the 50 people who have been injured, 33 are firefightersaccording to the Portuguese Diario Público.

Apart from the four dead firefighters, there are three other fatalities. Commander André Fernandes confirmed at a press conference in Oeiras (Lisbon metropolitan area) that the three victims are two women and a man who died after the vehicle of combat in which they were outside reached by the flames when they were going to fight a fire in Nelas (Centro region).

On Tuesday, the second national commander of Civil Protection, Mário Silvestre, confirmed to journalists the death of another person, without giving details, although local media reported that it was a civilian.

Commander André Fernandes said on Tuesday that The situation remains “very critical” and announced that evacuations will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday.

65 active fires

There are currently 65 fires in progress, with the highest incidence in the northern and central regions of the country. Of particular concern is the “complex of fires” that is occurring in the border area between the district of Aveiro and the metropolitan area of Port.

For the moment, the fires They have already 10,000 hectares burned, but they have the potential to reach another 20,000 if not controlled in the next few hours.

There are about 1000 m2 on the land. 5,300 troopsin addition to 1,700 land vehicles and 29 aerial.

On Monday they joined Two Spanish Canadair amphibious aircraft within the framework of the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism, and two more have already arrived today from France, which will join the fight against the flames in the next few hours.

The Portuguese authorities They are awaiting the arrival of two more Italian planes for this Tuesday and two other Greeks, who have not yet been able to leave their country due to the weather conditions.

One of the municipalities most affected by the flames is that of Mangualde (Viseu district, bordering Aveiro), which includes several villages that have already been affected by the fire.

According to EFE’s observations on the ground, residents in the area have organised themselves together with firefighters to build blockades against the flames, which have already affected several buildings.

Hoe in hand or with hoses from their own homes, dozens of residents are participating in human prevention chains.

“To see if we can protect the part of the houses, animal storage, and all those things,” António, a resident of the town of Mesquitela, in Mangualde, explained to EFE, with his face covered by a mask to protect himself from the intense smoke carried by the winds. He added that several people have already been evacuated in this municipality.

On the other hand, João Pedro, a young Brazilian resident of the same town, told EFE that he began to feel the smoke arriving in the early hours of the morning: “You couldn’t see it here close by but there was a strong smell at night,” he said.

Paula Santos is another neighbour concerned about the situation, and she already knows of friends’ houses that are close to the flames.

“It is very worrying to see everything burning around us. It is difficult, very, very difficult.“l”, he said.

Climate change

Temperatures exceeded 30 degrees across the country over the weekend, when the fires started and were fanned by strong winds. Weather agency IPMA is forecasting temperatures to remain above 30 C for the next two days amid extremely low humidity.

Portugal has had a relatively quiet summer on the fire front so far, with a burnt area of ​​10,300 hectares by the end of August, a third of that of 2023 and seven times less than the average of the last 10 years.

Following the deadly fires of June and October 2017, which claimed more than a hundred lives, Portugal increased its investment in prevention tenfold and doubled its budget for fighting forest fires.

Experts believe that the increase in heat waves, as well as their longer duration and intensity, is a consequence of climate change.