Algarve wildfires may burn for days
WILDFIRES scorched across Portugal’s southern Algarve region yesterday, threatening more villages, as the country’s prime minister warned the blaze could burn for days before being brought under control.
Over 1,400 firefighters and soldiers were battling the blaze around the mountain spa town of Monchique in one of Europe’s top tourist destinations. They were backed up by 13 water-dropping aircraft that scooped water from the sea to battle the flames which were scorching a path toward more villages.
Sweltering temperatures and strong winds kindled blazes that have whipped across the region as the Europe-wide heatwave sent the mercury above 45 degrees Celsius in some areas of Portugal. But while winds eased in the morning, they picked up in the afternoon as temperatures rose and air humidity levels dropped, leading Prime Minister Antonio Costa to predict it would rage “during the coming days.”
“We should have no illusions that this fire will be put out in the coming hours. The next windows of opportunity that we have (to control the fire) will be at night, and dawn and early morning,” he said in Lisbon during a visit to the firefighter command center.
The fires have left 32 people injured, one seriously, and forced hundreds from their homes as the flames encircled urban areas in the popular holiday region, while British and other tourists were evacuated over the weekend from a luxury hotel in Monchique.
One front of the blaze was moving steadily toward the town of Silves, which is just 10 kilometers inland and there were fears that it could spread toward the coastal city of Portimao, which is popular with tourists.
“The sky has been filled with this sort of black haze and it is ash and soot,” said Tony Sanders, a Briton who owns a bed and breakfast in the seaside resort of Carvoeiro. “You smell this acrid wood in the atmosphere all the time and it sort of gets you in the back of the throat.”
The difficulty in bringing the fires under control has raised doubt on the effectiveness of measures taken by the authorities to avoid a repetition of fires that killed at least 114 people last year. Firefighters have criticized the lack of coordination, while Costa has drawn flak on social media for remaining on holiday as the flames raged.