“There were difficult moments in Serra do Pisco and houses at risk in Venda do Cepo, Montes, Vila Novinha, and Rio de Mel, but we managed to control the flames,” stated Amílcar Salvador, the mayor of Trancoso, to Lusa news agency.
The mayor added that there were also rekindlings in Mendo Gordo and Torre de Terrenho during the afternoon, which were “rapidly controlled.”
“The situation that currently continues to require the most care and attention from the operatives is Vila Novinha,” he noted.
Amílcar Salvador mentioned that the fire may have moved from this locality to the neighboring municipality of Aguiar da Beira, in the area of Carapito, Eiriz, Sequeiros, and Gradiz.
“I cannot make a prediction for the end of this, no one can, because it changes from one moment to the next due to the strong wind, which remains very strong,” he stated.
The mayor noted that on Tuesday, winds reached speeds of 74 kilometers per hour.
“There were moments when the fire advanced one kilometer in an hour, which is frightening,” highlighted Amílcar Salvador.
The forest fire, which began on Saturday in Trancoso, in the district of Guarda, has already consumed nearly 14,000 hectares of land, according to today’s estimates by the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).
EFFIS, which relies on satellite images from the European Copernicus program, specifies that the burned area from the fire that started in Trancoso and spread to the municipalities of Fornos de Algodres, Aguiar da Beira, and Celorico da Beira totals 13,741 hectares.
The Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF) reports that since January 1, 63,247 hectares have burned in Portugal, half of which in the last three weeks.
The burned area this year is nine times larger than in the same period last year and is the second largest since 2017.
Portugal has been on alert due to the risk of rural fires since August 2.
