Combat reinforced this morning with five firefighting aircraft
The fight against the fire that broke out yesterday in an area of scrubland in Amora, Seixal, has been classified as “contained in the early hours of this morning”. Tactics now are to reinforce means on the ground with five firefighting aircraft, a civil protection source has told Lusa.
Sérgio Moura, sub-regional commander for the Setúbal Peninsula branch of National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority ANEPC, said that the fire was contained at 02:55.
It is now “within the forest perimeter and there are no homes at risk,” he said, adding that the head of the fire has reached the town of Lagoa Pequena, in Sesimbra.
At 08:00 this morning there were 466 operatives on the scene, with the support of 160 vehicles and five earth-movers.
“The aim now is to consolidate the hot spots, extinguish some of the remaining outbreaks and consolidate the aftermath, as yesterday, today is forecast to be a very windy day and we need to be on the lookout for possible reactivations,” he said.
“We don’t have any victims to report at the moment, nor any damaged homes*. We do have five civilian vehicles that have burned,” said Sérgio Moura, noting that the strong wind had made the firefighters’ work even more challenging
The alert for this fire went out just before 1pm yesterday, in the village of Verdizela, in an area of scrubland in the parish of Amora. It began after flames from a car that caught fire on the A33 leapt into the bush alongside.
The fire then progressed on two fronts towards the EN377, between Fernão Ferro (Seixal) and Alfarim (Sesimbra).
Several rescue and security forces are involved in the firefighting operations, in addition to the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority and the Setúbal Peninsula Sub-regional Command: fire departments, GNR, Special Civil Protection Force, PSP, Red Cross, Nature Conservation and Forestry Institute, Armed Forces and the municipalities of Seixal and Sesimbra.
*This detail is encouraging as reports yesterday were alluding to at least one home damaged, or partially damaged, others in the line of fire, including a ‘NATO munitions store’ at risk. A source for the armed forces has said it took the necessary precautions to protect the storage unit.
Source: LUSA
