“At the moment, the fire is extinguished, meaning there are no active fronts now,” stated Paulo Fernandes, explaining that monitoring work is ongoing due to potential reignitions that could occur during the day and the effort to consolidate an absolutely enormous perimeter.
This situation still requires many resources to prevent reignitions that could ruin the tremendous effort made over the past 48 hours, the mayor noted in a statement around 09:45.
“Now with the support, which we hope to continue receiving from aerial means for any possible reignitions and with the monitoring we can execute with our capabilities, we hope the day continues favorably as we start to assess extensive damages and begin contemplating recovery from this tragedy,” he added.
Paulo Fernandes described the previous night as “very tough in critical areas around the Gardunha mountain, trying to block any continuity lines for the fire,” highlighting the well-executed work of municipal resources, the National Republican Guard, and some external firefighting structures.
“Last night, we had no situations where houses or villages were in danger,” as this risk was averted on Thursday afternoon, he emphasized.
The fire that affected the municipality of Fundão began on the 13th in Piódão, Arganil, in the district of Coimbra.
Over a week, this massive fire affected other municipalities in the district of Coimbra and extended to districts of Guarda and Castelo Branco.
Continental Portugal has been impacted by numerous large-scale rural fires since July, mainly in the Northern and Central regions.
The fires resulted in three deaths, including a firefighter, and several injuries, some severe, and destroyed homes, both primary and secondary residences, as well as agricultural and livestock facilities and forest areas.
Portugal activated the European Civil Protection Mechanism, under which it has access to two Fire Boss aircraft and one Super Puma helicopter, with an additional two Canadair planes expected to arrive today.
Provisional official data indicates that by August 22nd, approximately 234,000 hectares have burned in the country, with over 53,000 hectares affected by the fire that originated in Arganil.
