Portugal is once again in the grip of impressive forest fires. Up to 2,800 firefighters mobilized on Sunday to try to overcome a series of fires that ravaged the country, also a victim of scorching temperatures. The government then reinforced the mobilization of relief by decreeing a “state of contingency”.
The largest outbreak had been raging since Thursday in the Ourém region (center) and alone mobilized nearly 700 firefighters. “The fire arrived 50 meters from the last house in the village (…). Everything burned up there,” Donzilia Marques told AFP.
The fire, which would have ravaged at least 1,500 hectares of vegetation according to a first estimate, destroyed at least two homes, according to the emergency services, which reported other temporary evacuations of villages threatened by the flames.
Forty injured
Another blaze mobilizing 450 firefighters had been raging since Friday a few kilometers away, after having declared itself in the municipality of Pombal, also located at the confluence of the districts of Leiria and Santarém.
The fires of the last few days have caused around forty minor injuries among firefighters and the population, but most of the victims were treated on the spot for symptoms of intoxication or exhaustion, according to a report provided Sunday evening by the national commander. Civil Protection, André Fernandes.
An upcoming temperature peak
For the third day in a row, peacekeepers had to deal with more than a hundred fire starts across the country, while “the peak of extreme weather” is still to come, underlined André Fernandes.
Thermometers have already reached 44 degrees Celsius in places, and the Portuguese meteorological institute expects temperatures to continue to rise until the middle of next week.
“Contingency state” activated
After this “high-risk” weekend, according to Prime Minister Antonio Costa, the Portuguese government has thus decided to decree a “state of contingency” between Monday and Friday, to raise the level of mobilization of the services by a notch. relief and any restrictions they may impose.
Lisbon has also asked the European Union to activate its common civil protection mechanism, obtaining the dispatch of two water bomber planes stationed in Spain.
The fires that are multiplying across the globe are associated with various phenomena anticipated by scientists due to global warming. The increase in temperature, the multiplication of heat waves and the drop in precipitation in places is an ideal combination for the development of fires.