Over 5,100 hectares charred and blackened; some of it unique heritage landscape
The wildfire that began on August 14 in the mountains of Madeira’s Ribeira Brava municipality was finally declared “totally extinguished” after 13 controversy-filled days of combat.
Over 5,100 hectares of landscape, some of it practically irreplaceable, have been left charred and blackened. The toll in terms of species’ casualties has yet to be calculated, but it will be significant.
Throughout the 13 days, authorities took political capital out of the fact that no homes were destroyed, or people injured. But this is still early days: the collateral damage of this fire has yet to come – namely landslides that are expected with the autumn rains, and will almost certainly threaten homes and properties, if not human lives.
Opposition politicians have already called regional governor and PSD party leader Miguel Albuquerque and his Secretary of State for Civil Protection to parliament to face questions.
As Lina Pereira, one of the MPs in opposition has explained: “there are political responsibilities that cannot be whitewashed, swept under the carpet, and decisions taken that were hasty, inappropriate and some even intolerable in the face of the suffering of the population and the deepening tragedy”.
Arguing that it is impossible to “continue pretending that everything is fine”, Lina Pereira stressed that, in recent years, wildfires in Madeira have “caused loss of life, desolation, suffering, loss of homes and personal property and thousands of hectares of natural heritage”.
This article appeared in our paper edition of the Resident on August 29.
