“This is complicated. The fire is still burning with great intensity. Until recently, there were four fronts, but there was a projection due to the wind, and it opened up into two more fronts,” said Commander José Gonçalves.
The commander stated that currently there are no houses at risk and hopes the fight against the flames progresses favorably during the night.
“We have to wait for nightfall, to see if this calms down a bit and if we can conduct a more effective fight,” said the commander.
By 8:00 PM, the National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection’s page indicated the existence of three fires in Arouca, mobilizing nearly three hundred operatives and six aerial resources.
The fire with the most resources involved broke out in a bush area in Alvarenga around 1:15 PM, with 178 operatives, 55 vehicles, and one aerial resource.
The other two fires, in the Canelas and Espiunca area, resulted from projections of the first fire and mobilized 103 operatives, 25 vehicles, and five aerial resources.
The Arouca fire led to the temporary closure of the Paiva walkways and the famous suspension bridge this afternoon.
“For safety reasons, and due to an active fire in the surrounding area, the Paiva Walkways and the 516 Arouca Bridge are temporarily closed,” stated a note posted on the Walkways’ Facebook page.
This is not the first time the Paiva Walkways, one of the most important local tourist infrastructures, have been affected by fires.
The last occurrence was in September 2024, when a fire destroyed about two kilometers of the walkways, representing a quarter of their total length.
After repair work, which took three months and cost over 200 thousand euros, the walkways fully reopened to the public on April 16.
