11 firefighters hurt, 4 civilians; homes under threat
Today has been marked by a major fire in Alcabideche, in the borough of Cascais, which is still ongoing this evening, whipped up by strong winds.
At one point this afternoon, mayor of Cascais Carlos Carreiras said the fire was close to be brought under control.
That situation then changed, with clips now on social media showing the fire as ‘uncontrollable’.
Some residents are evacuating on their own initiative; as many as 11 firefighters have had to be treated for smoke inhalation/ exhaustion and minor injuries, four civilians have also been hurt – and one firefighting appliance has been ‘burnt out’.
Twelve firefighting air craft are currently still in the sky, dousing the flames from above with water while almost 400 firefighters are on the ground, backed by appliances.
In around an hour from now (8.30pm), firefighting planes will have to stop working until tomorrow morning.
The fire began shortly before lunch today. Mayor Carreiras has said that the borough has been undertaking firefighting prevention, but the areas in flames today (around Janes/ Murches) are areas that “were to be cleared” of combustible material “shortly”.
In other words, way beyond the time by which land was meant to have been ‘prepared ahead of the fire season’, areas are still not suitably cleared.
This fire is set to continue for some time yet. The winds complicating firefighting efforts are not expected to drop for some hours, explains weather channel Meteo Trás os Montes.
Lusa news agency adds that the last two years have seen fires of “elevated proportions” in the parish of Alcabideche. So far, the causes of this one “have not been determined”. ND
