Forest fires in Portugal

Flames engulf houses, firefighter dead

(Bild: kameraOne (Screenshot))

Several severe forest fires have been raging in northern Portugal since Sunday. In Albergaria-a-Velha, a municipality in the district of Aveiro, at least two houses have burned down. Residents were evacuated. One firefighter had a heart attack in the line of duty and died, four others were injured.

Around 800 firefighters are on duty. According to the mayor, there is a lack of resources to fight the fires. More than 1600 firefighters are working on several forest fires. The country asked the EU for more fire-fighting aircraft.

The situation was initially particularly bad in the Distrito (district, note) of Aveiro in the north of the country, where three major and numerous smaller fires were raging, according to media reports citing the local authorities.

(Bild: kameraOne (Screenshot))

Several evacuations already started
In the 25,000-inhabitant community of Albergaria-a-Velha, around 60 kilometers south of Porto, the flames engulfed at least two houses. Mayor Antonio Loureiro was quoted by the newspaper "Público" as saying that several evacuations had already been started. The smoke had darkened the skies of the regional capital Aveiro and other municipalities in this coastal region, the paper wrote.

Several highways partially closed
The three major fires in the Aveiro district - in Albergaria-a-Velha, Oliveira de Azeméis and Sever do Vouga - were fought by a total of almost 800 firefighters, according to the Portuguese civil protection authority ANEPC (Autoridade Nacional de Emergência e Proteção Civil).

More than 250 vehicles and nine fire-fighting aircraft were also deployed. The A1, A17, A25 and A29 highways and some rural roads were partially closed.

European partners have been asked for support as part of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, ANEPC announced. According to the authorities, the fires in the Aveiro district all broke out on Sunday evening. The causes initially remained unknown.

Civil protection issued a forest fire warning
There were also some major forest fires in other regions of Portugal, including Castelo Branco near the border with Spain in the east of the country. The Civil Defense issued a forest fire warning for the entire mainland until Tuesday evening.

So far this year, Portugal has been largely spared major forest fires. According to official figures, only a good 10,000 hectares of nature had been affected by August 31. This is the lowest figure for the period from January to August since 2014, it was reported.