At 11:45 p.m. on Tuesday, José Guilherme, Deputy Regional Commander of the North, stated that the situation had calmed down following an evening of some reactivations.
“With the increase in humidity, I believe it will aid the firefighting efforts overnight,” he said.
A significant resurgence in the village of Galegos da Serra necessitated the confinement of the population. Confinement involves advising people to stay indoors if it is safe or to gather in a designated safe area of the village.
José Guilherme emphasized, in his latest update, that the entire population was safe and that consolidation efforts in that area were ongoing and expected to take some time.
During the afternoon, reactivations were also observed in Fervença, Pardelhas, Ermelo, and Currais, which were subsequently resolved.
According to the online page of the National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection (ANEPC), at 11:45 p.m. on Tuesday, there were 595 operatives on-site, supported by 208 vehicles.
In the municipality of Celorico de Basto, district of Braga, a fire that started on Monday night in the parish of Caçarilhe and Infesta continued to involve 237 operatives and 77 vehicles at 11:45 p.m. on Tuesday, following an increase in resources in recent hours.
An ANEPC source reported that this fire required additional resources late in the afternoon due to the complexity of fighting it.
In the same municipality, a fire that began at 9:35 p.m. on Tuesday in Campelo engaged 17 operatives and five vehicles.
The Celorico de Basto City Council announced on Tuesday afternoon that it had activated the Municipal Emergency Plan for Civil Protection due to several fires in the municipality and worsening weather conditions.
“The order stipulates that the operations coordination will be led by the Municipal Civil Protection Coordinator, in collaboration with the Municipal Civil Protection Service, the National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection (ANEPC), the municipal fire departments, law enforcement, and other entities with responsibilities in civil protection,” reads a note on Facebook.
According to ANEPC’s page, another significant incident occurred in Galegos, Penafiel, district of Porto, where a fire that started at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday had, by 11:45 p.m., mobilized 65 operatives and 19 vehicles.
By 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Civil Protection had recorded 69 rural fires, involving 1,500 operatives, 382 ground units, and 95 aerial missions. A review of the alert status for the coming days is expected on Wednesday.
The mainland territory has been under a special readiness state level three since Sunday, expected to last until Thursday.
When questioned on Tuesday about potential changes to the deployment for the coming days, Carlos Pereira, Deputy Operations Officer of ANEPC, stated that “tomorrow [Wednesday]” a “reassessment” of all recommendations and pre-positioning of resources would be conducted.
