More than 600 firefighters fight fire in Ponte da Barca
In Ponte da Barca, "work is progressing favorably and, if everything goes as it has been, we will have good news in the next few hours," said the regional commander for Lisbon and Vale do Tejo of Civil Protection, Elísio Pereira, in a situation update made at 10 am.
At this moment, fighting the calls that are still “active”, there are “two light helicopters”, and “a heavy bomber, a pair of bombers and a prevention helicopter will enter [the theater of operations],” he added.
According to Elísio Pereira, "late morning usually brings a strong wind that can trigger flare-ups in areas where we're already working to consolidate them." "Since these are critical points, it still doesn't guarantee that the fire won't spread beyond its already-affected perimeter," he concluded.
Most districts in the North, Center and Algarve regions are currently at maximum risk of fire, according to data from the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA).
In the north and center of mainland Portugal, almost all municipalities in the districts of Bragança, Vila Real, Viseu, Guarda, Castelo Branco, Coimbra and Santarém are at maximum risk of fire.
The districts of Coimbra and Portalegre also have several municipalities under this IPMA alert.
In the district of Faro, the municipalities of Monchique, Portimão, Silves, Loulé, São Brás de Alportel and Tavira are also at maximum risk of fire.
Only a few municipalities on the country's coast , namely in the districts of Lisbon, Setúbal, Porto and Aveiro, are at moderate fire risk .
The IPMA forecasts generally clear skies for today, with temporary cloudiness on the west coast, and a slight rise in maximum temperatures on the North and Central coast and in the South region.
The wind will generally blow weak, sometimes strong from the east/northeast in the highlands of the North and Central regions until early morning and at the end of the day, blowing weak to moderate from the west quadrant during the afternoon.
The maximum temperatures expected for today will vary between 25 degrees in Aveiro and 40 in Évora.
The fire in Ponte da Barca began on July 26th, and the flames have not yet been contained. More than six thousand hectares of the Peneda-Gerês National Park have now been consumed.
This Saturday morning, with the aim of stopping this fire, there are 610 operational and 204 ground resources, as well as one air resource, as can be seen on the Civil Protection website .
According to a source from the Alto Minho sub-regional command cited by the Lusa news agency, the fire in the municipality of Ponte da Barca, in Viana do Castelo, remained, at 8:10 am, ongoing and with two active fronts.
According to the same source, at that time, 607 firefighters were fighting the flames, supported by 201 vehicles and one aircraft. With Lusa
This year, 36 people have been arrested for forest fires, and 525 have been identified, according to data from the GNR (National Republican Guard). The force adds that 2,979 arson crimes have been recorded so far.
According to data from the GNR, up to July 31, the districts with the highest number of arrests are Vila Real (8), Porto (7), Guarda (5), Braga (4) and Leiria (4) .
It should also be noted that this year, 10,417 cases of lack of land clearing were reported across the country: "Given the worsening risk of fire in vast areas of the country, caused by rising temperatures, strong winds and low levels of relative humidity", the National Republican Guard states that it has "significantly strengthened its commitment to preventing and fighting rural fires".
As a preventative measure, the GNR also recommends that the population monitor weather warnings and fire risk levels through official channels, “immediately inform the authorities (112) in the event of smoke or fire” and avoid unnecessary trips to forest areas on days of greatest risk.
Good morning. We continue to monitor the fire situation in Portugal, on a morning when the Ponte da Barca photo continues to be the most concerning.
You can relive all of last Friday's events in the liveblog , which we've now concluded. Thank you for joining us.
observador
