June 29 saw 132 fires break out in Portugal
With weather forecasts pointing to many more complicated days for firefighters, there are currently five active blazes still causing authorities major headaches.
After yesterday in which over 130 fires broke out – the most in one day so far this year – the wildfires in Arouca and Castelo de Paiva (Aveiro district), Ponte da Barca and Ponte de Lima (Viana do Castelo district), and Penafiel (Porto district) are considered the most worrying.
Giving a ‘situation report’ early this morning, ANEPC civil protection authority said that the fire in Arouca continues to mobilise the most resources. In Ponte da Barca, at least four firefighters were injured, not seriously. In Nisa, flames forced the partial evacuation of two villages and were reported to have destroyed one home.
Since the 6am update, however, the Nisa blaze has been pronounced “dominated”, and has been removed from the list of “most worrying” blazes.
Still, around three thousand firefighters remain either actively battling fires, or trying to keep them contained, in the more northern parts of the country.
A quick look at the fogos.pt website, shows the uncanny grouping of these incidents, leaving territory below Coimbra practically ‘fire free’.
Overnight, fires in Penamacor and Alcanede were considered to have been brought under control.
Further updates to come after new briefing…
