A 50-year-old woman has been placed in preventive detention on suspicion of starting a fire near her home in Sintra, Lisbon district, at a time when Portugal was under extreme fire risk alert.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) announced that preventive detention was implemented as a coercive measure on Tuesday, a day after the fire broke out in Lourel.
“The facts suggest that the defendant left her home in Lourel, Sintra, around 2:30 PM on August 4, 2025, carrying a bottle of fuel,” stated the MP’s website.
The statement further explained that the woman “crossed the street where she lives and, next to a wall of a vacant lot, poured fuel and set fire to the vegetation.”
“After ensuring that the fire she started was spreading and had the potential to reach surrounding vegetation and forest, the defendant returned to her residence with the bottle,” the MP indicated.
The alert was raised around 2:30 PM by witnesses who noticed both the flames and the presence of the woman now accused.
It was also noted that “another witness noticed the fire and immediately left their house, using a hose to combat the flames.”
The investigation is ongoing with the Central Department of Criminal Investigation and Prosecution in Sintra.
Lourel is located a few kilometers from monuments such as the National Palace of Sintra and the Park and National Palace of Pena. At the time of the fire, several monuments were closed.
On Saturday, the Sintra municipality announced that some monuments and the surrounding forest area would be closed due to the extreme risk of rural fire. The monuments that remain closed until Thursday can be viewed here.
In recent hours, the Portuguese Institute for the Sea and the Atmosphere extended the orange alert, the second most severe, until late Saturday afternoon in the districts of Bragança, Vila Real, Visei, and Guarda, due to the heat.
However, the persistence of high temperatures will intensify alerts in two districts, as on Saturday, Bragança and Vila Real will be under a red alert, the highest level of warning. More details can be found here.
