“In need of a list? Over 1,800 bales of straw, a baler, a tractor trailer, three tons of silage [chopped corn for the animals], approximately 100 meters of irrigation hose, about 30 meters of fencing, and 12 trailer loads of firewood for the winter,” reported António Fonseca.
Despite having another profession, the damage weighs heavily: “All this was the result of work from 4 PM to 10 PM, 11 PM, and it was a lot, hard work that was gone just like that, in an instant.”
“What remains is what we managed to save here,” he added.
António Fonseca also mentioned that a friend lost 40 hectares of fruit trees, including chestnuts and apples—”not everything, but the loss is indeed significant”—in the area of Paredes da Beira, Riodades, and Penela da Beira, in the municipality of Penedono, also in the district of Viseu.
In these places where the two municipalities meet, communication failures are still “substantial, only today has there been some mobile service, as there is still no internet,” he stated.
In Paredes da Beira, “everything burned”
In Paredes da Beira, Sofia Quintal and her husband had been investing in chestnuts and apples, but now “the fire came and took everything.” “There were 1,500 apple trees, 20 chestnut trees, and I don’t even know how many meters of drip irrigation hose. Everything burned,” she remarked.
The landscape between Trevões, Paredes da Beira, and Penela da Beira forms a mosaic, with patches of green and brown where the flames did not reach and the black of what was consumed by fire.
“Look at that mountain. I’m 92 years old and never saw it like that, in that color,” pointed out Aníbal Martinho, who lost, “as far as known, 15 hectares of chestnut groves.” It remains to be seen if the 30 hectares of fruit trees, chestnuts, and apples were entirely or partially destroyed.
Until the age of 20, Aníbal raised cattle. “Today no one does that anymore; there’s no pasture, no one cultivates lands with potatoes and rye, and it will only get worse,” he lamented.
“When we, the elderly, pass away, this will be deserted and then it will be abandoned for the flames. The more it burns, the more it will continue to burn because there’s no vegetation left,” he observed.
His own children have moved to Lisbon and Porto. In his perspective, “you cannot blame those who seek a better life,” as “the rural life is hard, and that’s why no one is left” in these lands.
“And this is also why politicians engage in these battles in the country’s interior, because no one will convince me otherwise, it’s all a political war over lands that, sooner or later, will be empty,” he stated.
The fire that reached São João da Pesqueira originated from two blazes—one broke out on the 13th in Sátão (Viseu district) and another on the 9th in Trancoso (Guarda district), and by Friday (the 15th), they had merged into one, affecting a total of 11 municipalities.
Sátão, Sernancelhe, Moimenta da Beira, Penedono, and São João da Pesqueira (Viseu district); and Aguiar da Beira, Trancoso, Fornos de Algodres, Mêda, Celorico da Beira, and Vila Nova de Foz Côa (Guarda district) were the affected municipalities.
This fire was brought under control by 10 PM on Sunday, August 17.
