On Tuesday, three firefighters and a forest ranger were slightly injured while fighting a fire that broke out on Saturday in the town of Garrocho, municipality of Covilhã, the Center’s Regional Operations Commander said.
Also on Tuesday afternoon, the helicopter lost its tail while landing and was out of service. He was forced to make an emergency landing. According to CMthere are no casualties.
AT A light helicopter for extinguishing rural fires was accompanied by 6 people, including a pilot and five military personnel Emergency protection and assistance unit. None of the crew was hurt.
“The alarm was announced at 19:00. The helicopter received significant material damage, the tail unit was broken. The operator of the damaged helicopter has already guaranteed its replacement by another helicopter of the same type on the morning of 10 August.
“Fortunately, there are no deaths or serious injuries so far. [problemas em] property to be registered. Housing was not damaged. This is cause for joy. We had four minor injuries, three firefighters and a forest ranger,” António Ribeiro said.
The official spoke during a press conference held at the parish council of Teixoso (Covilhã) about the fire that has been raging since Saturday.
Municipal road 501 (Teixoso-Verdelhos-Vale de Amoreira) is closed to civil traffic. The road may open in the next few hours, but at the moment no one can enter or leave Verdelhos.
At a press conference, the Regional Operations Commander of the Center stressed that there is currently a “very serious situation” in the municipality of Manteigas.
“The situation that worries us the most is the fire front in the municipality of Manteigas. There are two active fronts, one in the municipality of Covilhã and the other in the municipality of Manteigas,” he stressed, admitting that he is expecting a “difficult night”. “and a lot of work, adding that there will be a reinforcement of 10 task forces of about 300 people.
“It won’t be easy. We have a very hard night’s work ahead of us. The night was favorable for combat, with light winds and temperatures. It is possible to work on the fire front,” he said, expressing the hope that “tomorrow [quarta-feira]during the day the weather conditions are more favorable.
The mayor of Covilhã, Vitor Pereira, stressed that the fire was caused by unique weather conditions.
“There have been 225 fires since January in the Castelo Branco region. Note that there were 99 fires in July alone. More than 40% of the fires occurred during these seven months, about half occurred only in the month of July,” he said. said.
Vitor Pereira stressed that these figures are a good indication of the conditions in which the operatives fight the flames on the ground, protect property and protect the population.
As for the fire itself, the mayor acknowledged that the heritage (forest) is being lost from an ecological and conservation point of view.
For his part, the mayor of Manteigas, Flavio Massano, stressed that he “has full confidence in civil protection, firefighters, GNR and all organizations that fight fire.”
“We know that we are facing adverse conditions and there may be failures. The situation is serious,” he stressed.
Author: Alexander Salgueiro as well as Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
