Fierce forest fires have been raging in the Serra da Estrela Nature Park in Portugal for days. Hundreds of firefighters are fighting the flames. However, the mayor of an affected town is critical of the extinguishing work.
More than 1,500 firefighters continue to fight the wildfires in Serra da Estrela Natural Park in central Portugal. Several firefighting planes and helicopters are being used to get “the fronts that are still active” under control, said Miguel Cruz, representative of the civil protection authority, on the state television station RTP. The fire broke out in the municipality of Covilha on Saturday.
According to the authorities, a campsite and a river beach in the region were evacuated as a precaution on Wednesday. According to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), the forest fire has so far destroyed around 10,000 hectares of land. Several firefighters were slightly injured during the extinguishing work.
The mayors of several communities affected by the fires criticized the way the fire was extinguished. “Supposedly there are many means” to fight fires, “but you don’t see any of them,” said Sergio Costa, mayor of Guarda, the broadcaster RTP.
The Serra da Estrela Natural Park is located in the highest area of ??mainland Portugal, with the highest peaks reaching almost 2000 meters. The environmental protection organization Quercus fears that the fires will result in a significant loss of biodiversity.
Portugal is suffering from exceptional drought this year. The National Meteorological Institute recorded the hottest July in over 100 years. According to figures from the ICNF nature conservation institute, 70,000 hectares of vegetation have gone up in flames since the beginning of the year.
It’s also burning in France: South of Bordeaux, after about two weeks, severe fires broke out again. As the prefecture announced, around 1,100 emergency services are fighting the flames, and 10,000 people have had to leave their homes. 6800 hectares of area were destroyed by the flames.
