Valter Martins and his wife are the only inhabitants of the village cluster of Silveira de Cima and de Baixo, located on the slopes of the Serra da Lousã, where a wildfire broke out in the forested area and where they keep their animals on village land.
“I have deer, several deer that lose their parents, and I have the conditions at home to support them; I already have seven there. But they roam free, and today I did everything possible to scare them away, even throwing stones, to make them flee [from the fire] up towards the wind turbines,” Valter Martins told Lusa.
One of the animals, however, refused to leave its caretaker: “There is one, smaller, that rides with me in the van, is out adventuring with me,” he said.
The resident also relocated his pigs to a pen in the village of Serpins, adjacent to the headquarters of the municipality of Lousã, as well as some dogs.
At the Silveiras property, where they have lived since 2012, the couple is residing in an improvised shelter—constructed using a truck trailer—until they finish the main house renovations, from which they also removed various belongings today, fearing they might be consumed by the fire.
“It’s like a refrigerated container, not stone walls. I had to take everything out, refrigerator, stove, television, everything came out and was loaded down to [Lousã] to a friend’s house,” he explained.
“I took out what I could, only the wooden furniture remains,” he added.
By 9:45 PM, the flames were being battled by 315 firefighters, supported by 90 vehicles.
The president of the parish council of Lousã and Vilarinho, Helena Correia, informed Lusa that around 50 people evacuated from the eight villages were sheltered at the local fire station, with some expected to spend the night in a school.
In addition to Candal, near where the fire started, Cerdeira, and the Silveiras cluster, located on the left side when going up the EN236, the villages of Talasnal, Casal Novo, Chiqueiro, Catarredor, and Vaqueirinho, situated on the right side of the road, were evacuated.
In the late afternoon, in a statement to Lusa, the president of the Lousã municipality, Luís Antunes, indicated that the fire situation was complicated.
“We have two fronts, one more upwards and the other more downwards,” said Luís Antunes, adding that the flames were burning on a slope near the village of Cerdeira and “then on a slope facing more south,” illustrated the mayor.
