The Polícia Judiciária (PJ) has arrested a suspect, outside of flagrante delicto, in connection with setting five forest fires in the parish of Chafé, Viana do Castelo.
In a statement to the press, the PJ revealed that the crimes occurred on August 21 of this year and that the fires were set “in areas conducive to spreading to large forest areas and residential clusters,” potentially endangering homes and residents.
“At 9 p.m. that same day, five ignitions appeared simultaneously in the forest area, immediately detected by locals who quickly extinguished some of the fires and alerted the firefighters of Viana do Castelo to extinguish the remaining ones,” the statement continued.
The authority further stated that “some witnesses pointed to the presence and possible involvement of an 18-year-old man” who was at the scene when the fires broke out.
“Based on the information collected and the identification of the suspect, efforts were undertaken that resulted in the gathering of consistent indicatory evidence attesting to the alleged commission of the crimes” by the man identified by the witnesses.
The PJ also announced that the detained individual will be brought before the judicial authority for initial questioning and imposition of coercive measures this Thursday.
The burned area is 17 times larger than in 2024
Notably, the district of Viana do Castelo has been severely affected by fires this year, especially with the fire in Ponte da Barca, which burned for a week and consumed approximately 7,550 hectares.
In total, it is estimated that more than 139,000 hectares have burned this year, half of which occurred in just two days. Compared to last year, the burned area is 17 times greater than that recorded in 2024, according to provisional data from the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF).
This year’s burned area is also the second largest since 2017, which recorded a total of 164,249 hectares burned by August 15.
The forest fires have consumed 139,000 hectares to date, half of which in just two days, representing 17 times more than the area burned in the same period last year, according to provisional ICNF data.
