“In the area of the two fires adjacent to the localities, the situation is now under control, and we are consolidating the aftermath, although there is an extensive front heading towards the Zêzere River,” stated Ricardo Costa, the deputy regional commander for Emergency and Civil Protection of Leiria, to Lusa.
The efforts to combat this forest fire front are the focus of night operations, which are reportedly progressing favorably, he added.
The official further explained that the two fires in the parishes of Pedrógão Grande and Graça, within the same municipality in Leiria district, are “roughly of the same size” and are being managed “as if it were a single fire” due to their proximity.
Leiria’s regional commander for Emergency and Civil Protection, Carlos Guerra, told Lusa that the two fires erupted about an hour apart in close proximity, leading to projections that affected the nearby municipality of Sertã, in Castelo Branco district.
The deputy regional commander confirmed that the fire on the Sertã side “is contained.”
The fires that started in the afternoon in São Vicente, in the parish of Pedrógão Grande, had engaged 922 personnel and 292 vehicles by 10:40 PM, incorporating the human and terrestrial resources of the blaze that broke out in Graça.
As per the National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection’s website, by 6:50 PM, 663 personnel supported by 192 vehicles and 18 aerial means were at the Pedrógão fire, while 183 personnel with 47 vehicles and two aerial means were at the Graça fire.
Ricardo Costa assured that “the populations are safe” and that sections of the Complementary Itinerary (IC) 8 and National Road (EN) 2 are “temporarily closed.”
The Territorial Command of the GNR in Leiria confirmed that as a precaution, the villages of Marroquil, Torneira, Romão, Agria, and Sobreiro, in the parish of Pedrógão Grande, were evacuated and the residents directed to Derreada Cimeira.
The residents of Pedrógão Grande were once again astonished by fires, eight years after the devastating blazes that struck the area.
The fires that broke out on June 17, 2017, in Pedrógão Grande and spread to neighboring municipalities claimed the lives of 66 people, injuring 253, seven of them seriously. The fires also destroyed about 500 homes and 50 businesses.
