Portugal: Fires destroy more than 62,000 ha since Sunday

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Portugal: Fires destroy more than 62,000 ha since Sunday

9:10 CAT | 18 Sep 2024

Image: Lusa

The area burnt in mainland Portugal since Sunday has exceeded 62,000 hectares, according to the European Copernicus system. The system shows that 47,376 hectares have been burnt in the north and centre of the country, which has been hit by fires since the weekend.

The worst affected areas are in the Aveiro, Tâmega e Sousa and Viseu Dão Lafões regions, which total 47,376 hectares of burnt area, 75% of the area burnt nationwide.

According to the Copernicus system, which uses satellite images with a spatial resolution of 20 metres and 250 metres, the total area burnt since Sunday is 62,646 hectares.

In the Aveiro Region, which includes the areas between Oliveira de Azeméis, Albergaria-a-Velha and Águeda, the Copernicus system has counted 19,854 hectares of burnt area since Monday.

With 16,872 hectares burnt also since Monday, Viseu Dão Lafões is next among the worst-affected areas, followed by Tâmega e Sousa, where 10,650 hectares have burned since Sunday.

In the Ave subregion, 6,626 hectares have burned, 4,005 hectares in Alto Tâmega, and 3,341 hectares in the Porto Metropolitan Area.

According to the Copernicus system, the area burned in mainland Portugal this year totals 83,476 hectares, consumed by 147 significant fires recorded by the European Earth observation system.

At least seven people have died, and 40 have been injured, two seriously, in the fires that have been raging since Sunday in the north and centre of the country, such as Oliveira de Azeméis, Albergaria-a-Velha and Sever do Vouga, in the district of Aveiro, destroying dozens of houses and forcing roads and motorways such as the A1, A25 and A13 to be cut.

The latest victims are three firefighters who died in an accident on Tuesday while travelling to a fire in Tábua, in the district of Coimbra.

Today, at 3.30 p.m., the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC) registered 173 incidents involving more than 3,800 operational staff, supported by 1,049 ground resources and 40 aerial resources.

Since Sunday, the flames have reached the districts of Porto, in Gondomar; Braga, in Cabeceiras de Basto; Vila Real, in Vila Pouca de Aguiar; Viseu, in Penalva do Castelo and Nelas (with six injured) and Castelo Branco, in Louriçal do Campo. But the district of Aveiro, with 10,000 hectares already burnt, was the centre of the biggest fires in Oliveira de Azeméis, Sever do Vouga, Albergaria-a-Velha and Águeda.

The government has extended the fire risk alert until Thursday, given the weather forecasts, and announced the creation of a multidisciplinary team to deal with the consequences of the fires of recent days, coordinated by the Minister of State and Territorial Cohesion, Manuel Castro Almeida, who held his first meeting in Aveiro yesterday.

Source: Lusa