Fires in Portugal leave dozens injured, more than 1000 firefighters and 10 planes fight the fire
The fires started on Saturday and have so far destroyed about 8,600 hectares. With different nuclei, the fires have affected a large territory in the districts of Santarém and Castelo Blanco. The heat of these days and the winds have made it very difficult for the firefighters who continue to work on the Vila de Rei fire, the strongest of all and the only one that remains active.
The authorities emphasize that the alert issued is preventive due to the possibility of new fires, since in reality only the Vila de Rei front remains being attacked by firefighters, however, this fire is one of the most voracious and where several firefighters they join the victims of the flames.
The ghost of the 2017 fires is present in Portugal
One of the most horrible tragedies in the country was recorded in the memory of the Portuguese, when in 2017 similar macrofires took the lives of 115 people in different places. According to reports, the current fires have even affected similar areas destroying the outbreaks that barely grew since that catastrophe.
The European Union is in charge of making satellite maps to optimize not only the fight against fire, but also helps in the care of those affected, the eviction of residents from areas that may suffer from the flames and the prevention of future fires with a map of risk where the places where the fires have been repeated these years are corroborated.
By Sunday afternoon, 10 planes and more than 1,000 firefighters were still fighting the flames that threatened to spread despite the effort, however, reports indicate that anti-Indian teams made some progress as night approached. From Saturday to Sunday the fires advanced so violently that some areas, such as Cardigos beach, where more than 1,000 people enjoyed and had to protect their lives at the time.
Were the fires started in Portugal?
Minister Eduardo Cabrita presented it as a very real possibility, this due to the coincidence of several simultaneous fires in nearby areas, in the center of the country. In addition to this, local media claim that incendiary devices and "suspicious" objects were found near the fires in Vila de Rei.
The Police announced the arrest of a 55-year-old man apparently trying to start a new fire, however, there was an alert from the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere for the possibility of fires in the face of strong winds that were approaching the region, this together With the heat wave and dry conditions in the area, it forced an early warning that, however, did not prevent a high number of injuries.
Although the Vila de Rei front was the only active on Sunday afternoon, an alert has been issued for two days regarding the possibility that new fires may reproduce or start new fires throughout the dry zone of the districts affected by the flames in the year 2017 and again these days.
