2023-08-08 09:19:25
Firefighters in Portugal have been fighting forest and bush fires across the country since the weekend. Again and again the flames are fanned by strong winds and get out of control.
By Marc Hoffmann, ARD Madrid
The World Youth Day with the Pope’s visit is no longer a lead in the Portuguese news. Instead, the critical fire situation in the country dominates. Like many other southern European countries, Portugal is not spared from devastating forest fires. Extreme heat and drought increase the risk of fire – strong winds also make extinguishing work more difficult.
Dozens of fires have been raging across the country since the weekend. On Monday evening, the situation was particularly critical in the province of Leiria, about 150 kilometers north of Lisbon.
Thick clouds of smoke in the province of Leiria. The highway had to be closed at times.
Fire still not under control
National Civil Protection urged people to be extremely vigilant. The current situation is very complex and difficult. The capacities were not sufficient to be able to take action against all the fires at the same time.
More than 1,000 firefighters are fighting the fires. According to the authorities, several emergency workers were injured in one of the larger fires in the south of the country near the small town of Odemira.
Firefighters face a wall of flames in the municipality of Odemira, southwest Portugal.
There, too, the flames were not under control until late at night. Again Portuguese Broadcasting RTP reported, the flames had spread further towards the Algarve. 1,400 people had to leave their homes.
About 350 kilometers north, in the Proença-a-Nova region inland, the worst is now over. The flames had raged there for almost two days. According to official figures, thousands of hectares of land have been destroyed since the weekend.
The most devastating fire to date destroyed around 7,000 hectares in the districts of Castelo Branco and Proença-a-Nova in the center of the country over the weekend. That corresponds to an area of a good 10,000 football pitches.
Too little rain and a lack of fire protection measures
Local residents complain about water shortages: It has not rained in large parts of the country for many months. Some are also calling for more dead wood to be removed from forests as a fire safety measure.
Temperatures remain high at more than 35 degrees Celsius. Rain is not forecast. The forest fire risk remains extremely high in Portugal, as on the entire Iberian Peninsula.
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