The situation in Aljezur, in the Algarve, remains unstable due to the fire that broke out on Saturday in the neighboring municipality of Odemira (Beja), with at least one house burned, the mayor of the Algarve told Lusa.
“There is a house that burned, but at the moment I have no more data,” José Gonçalves told Lusa, adding that small annexes and other buildings in that municipality in the district of Faro also burned.
According to the mayor, the most worrying situation is in the area between the parishes of Rogil and Odeceixe, where, since this morning, the intensity of the flames has been improving or worsening depending on the direction of the wind, and there have been several reignitions.
“The size [of the fire] is large, but there has been no wind in the last few hours, which has also helped,” he said, warning that the fire is not yet subdued and that there is still a lot of work ahead to try to control the flames.
On Monday night, the fire forced the removal of 17 people from their homes, who were housed in the support areas for the population, but today they have all been able to return home, said José Gonçalves.
“In this last hour in which the air resources can still operate, we will try everything to bring the situation under control, and to maintain control during the night, this is our perspective”, he stressed.
The fire, which broke out on Saturday in São Teotónio, in the municipality of Odemira, district of Beja, It was early this afternoon the most worrying in the country, with an estimated burned area of about 7.000 hectares.
More than 1,000 operatives are fighting the flames today, being supported by 341 vehicles and 12 air means, according to the page of the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC), consulted by the Lusa agency at 19:00.
According to information provided by ANEPC at 13:10, 40 people have been assisted by the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM) following the fire.
In another ‘briefing’ held at 09:30, at the command post installed in São Teotónio, the regional commander of Emergency and Civil Protection of Alentejo said there was no confirmation of destroyed houses until that time, adding that the validation and verification work would be done throughout the day.
A rural fire in an area of scrubland and pine forest has been raging in the Algarve since Saturday, in the municipalities of Monchique and Aljezur, and on Monday afternoon surrounded the center of Odeceixe, in Aljezur.
