The perimeter of the fire that broke out on Friday, in Castelo Branco is currently stabilized, without any active front and with four hot spots that “deserve greater concern”, informed today the Regional Command of Civil Protection of the Center.
“The estimated burned area is 7,000 hectares, but the potential of this fire points to more than 20 thousand hectares. The focus, at this time, is not to let there be new reactivations with a period longer than 15 minutes “, said the second Regional Commander of Emergency and Civil Protection of Alentejo, José Guilherme, in a ‘briefing’ on the fire situation at 11:30.
“Unfortunately we have to register so far 11 minor injuries “, He said.
The fire broke out on Friday afternoon in the town of Carrascal, Santo André das Tojeiras, Castelo Branco municipality and progressed to the neighboring municipality of Proença-a-Nova.
José Guilherme said that on the ground will remain the more than a thousand operatives who “are achieving the stabilization of the perimeter of the land. The four hot spots are between Pedra Altar and Foz do Cobrão, west of Gaviãozinho, east of Carregais and between Catraia Cimeira and Aldeia Cimeira”, all in the municipality of Proença-a-Nova.
“We are talking about a very large area [60 kilometers of perimeter], with dispersed populations. There was no need [during the night] for evacuations. Many vacant houses and annexes were damaged, but fortunately there are no first or second homes damaged”, he stressed.
The second commander of civil protection also said that at the moment there are no communication routes banned or closed to road traffic, but he left an appeal for people to use these routes only in case of need, since many vehicles from Civil Protection and other entities that are fighting the fire continue to circulate there. fire.
“The fight is evolving very favorably and we anticipate that in the coming hours, if it remains so, at the end of the day we will make a new assessment. It all depends on the weather and the wind, above all. The focus will be on the four points to avoid stronger reactivations”, he concluded.
At the time of the briefing, the fire mobilized 1,030 operatives, supported by 359 vehicles, 16 trail machines and two aerial means (Fire Boss aircraft).
