More than 7,000 hectares ravaged by huge blazes keep hundreds of firefighters working against the clock to mitigate the catastrophe in Odemira. The wind and the extremely high temperatures that have been wreaking havoc for months in the region make the task of response personnel difficult. At least 1,500 residents were evacuated while the authorities investigate the possibility that the incident was provoked. Portugal shares the problem with its neighbor Spain, which in turn alerts about the severity of high temperatures and their influence on the increase in fires in the region, both in number and intensity.
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This August 7, almost 1,000 firefighters were deployed in the Odemira area –230 kilometers south of the country’s capital– to fight a fire declared since Saturday. The fire in this area has devastated 7,000 hectares, mostly pine and mixed populations of eucalyptus, cork oak, strawberry tree and scrub.
Aided by almost 300 ground vehicles and 11 air vehicles, the task was hindered by low humidity in the environment (less than 50%), the winds and the extremely high temperatures.
In order to prevent the loss of human lives, the Portuguese authorities evacuated around 1,500 people from 20 villages and a campsite near the emergency zone. Some of them are already beginning to return home after the closest flames were controlled by the troops deployed on the ground.
At the moment there are 14 active forest fires in Portugal that concentrate the attention of at least 2,000 troops. The heat wave that causes temperatures of up to 40 degrees in the European country intensifies the danger of fire in 120 areas in the interior of Portugal.
Likewise, in Leiria –150 kilometers north of Lisbon– there were other large fires that have jointly calcined almost 500 hectares and reaching the neighborhoods of Arrabal and Carangujeira on Monday.
In both cases there are still critical points to control, especially if there will be any process to establish responsibilities in case it is confirmed that both fires were provoked.
“It is not normal to have so many consecutive ignitions in critical places,” Luis Lopes, spokesman for Civil Protection in the town, explained to local media.
The approximately 7,000 hectares devastated between Saturday 5 and Monday 7 August in Odemira are part of the 25,279 hectares that have been devastated by fires so far this year in Portugal, according to data from the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests. .
Of the total hectares devastated by the fires in Portugal during 2023, around 50% were consumed by the flames so far in August alone.
Despite the spread of fires in different key areas of the country, the Government has refused to declare a situation of alert.
This August 8, the Secretary of State for Civil Protection, Patrícia Gaspar, gave an interview to the ‘CNN Portugal’ chain, where she pointed out that although the alert situation “is always on the table”, these measures “are exceptional instruments that cannot be trivialized”.
Spain, again on alert for high temperatures
Spain is immersed in the third heat wave of the current summer, which increases the risks of fires and their severity. The authorities of the Iberian country have announced that three different fires started only on the first weekend of August, which were controlled or extinguished on Tuesday, August 8. One of them occurred in the northeast and devastated 600 hectares, which required the preventive evacuation of 150 people.
The most significant conflagration, and the only one in the country that is out of control, is raging in the southwest, on the border with Portugal and has prompted the evacuation of 20 people who were in rural hostels in the area.
The authorities point out that the strong winds greatly complicate the work to control and extinguish the fire in the area.
AEMET, the Spanish climate agency, warns that temperatures will continue to rise at least until Friday, reaching up to 44 degrees in the southern Andalusian region.
⚠️ Special notice by #Heat wave: update.
🔴High temperatures will probably continue until Friday, 11.
🔴 On Wednesday, the heat will be the most adverse factor, but we will also have to pay attention to dry storms and a possible gale in the Cantabrian Sea
👇 pic.twitter.com/YK22MXW4GP— AEMET (@AEMET_Esp) August 8, 2023
Fires, droughts and an increase in the number of heatwave episodes are just some of the effects that the Iberian country must alleviate in the framework of one of the harshest hot seasons on the planet.
With AFP, AP and EFE
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