“Fortunately, and it is our priority, there were no victims, nor were any houses burned, but in terms of environmental area, the damage is enormous, although it is still not possible to quantify,” stated Carlos Cardoso.
The Arouca fire reached Cinfães on Tuesday, from the side of Nespereira, affecting a large part of that parish and also reaching Fornelos and Travanca.
This fire, he added, put the locality of Arrujo, in the parish of Fornelos, at risk, and people were taken to the Fornelos community center, where about 10 citizens stayed for two days and nights.
“Regarding the protected area, it affected the Vale do Paiva and the Rede Natura 2000. In the Vale do Paiva, the walkways burned, and the Rede Natura 2000 was significantly affected, more in Arouca, but also on the side of Cinfães,” he said.
Rede Natura 2000 in the Municipality of Cinfães covers 626 hectares (ha), “not everything burned, but it was significantly affected,” and then there are areas in the municipalities of Arouca (3,412 ha) and Castelo de Paiva (712 ha), all affected in this European natural reserve, added Carlos Cardoso.
Since Tuesday, the municipality of Cinfães, in the northern district of Viseu, has faced three other forest fires. One in the parish of São Cristóvão de Nogueira, a second in the parish of Tarouquela, where “a huge area burned and it also affected the parishes of Fornelos and Santiago de Piães.”
A third was recorded in the parish of Moimenta, where the Aldeia Segura exercise was necessary, because the locality of Gojo was evacuated, that is, six people were taken from their home for a day, all elderly, who were always duly accompanied and fed.
Today the fires “have calmed down a bit,” and hence the municipal Civil Protection is already working on two fronts: assessing the damage and restoring normalcy.
“We need to ascertain all the damage caused and restore normality, with cleaning of the roads, removing rubbish, stones, and logs scattered everywhere, and even some trees that are at risk of falling.”
Carlos Cardoso further stated that at least four roads were closed, though currently, all are open to traffic, as well as the installation of new power and communication cables.
“Companies are already replacing new cables, everyone is on the ground, and fortunately both energy and communications were always quickly restored,” he said.
The Civil Protection head of the Municipality of Cinfães also revealed that the authorities are on the ground investigating the origin of the fires.
