The national commander for emergencies and civil protection acknowledged on Tuesday that the situation in the Serra da Estrela, where the fire has been raging for more than a week, remains difficult and weather forecasts are unfavorable.
“At the moment the event is active. It is a very fragmented fire, with great potential for new discoveries and new fronts,” said Andre Fernandez.
On Tuesday at 12:00 p.m., the national commander made an update on the fires in Portugal at the headquarters of the National Office for Emergency and Civil Protection (ANEPC) in Carnachide, municipality of Oeiras (Lisbon), highlighting the fire that broke out on August 6 in Garrocho, in municipality of Covilhã and spread to other areas of the Serra da Estrela.
While acknowledging that the specifics of the area made fighting difficult, he explained that the situation was difficult and that the priority was to stabilize the fire, a task he said had also been difficult due to unfavorable weather forecasts.
“The strategy that has been identified is to use existing capabilities to stabilize the spread of fire,” he said, adding that there are three active fronts that deserve special attention.
By the end of the morning, 1,049 operatives were on site, including 21 groups to reinforce fire departments, 160 civil protection special forces operatives, and 96 agents of the National Republican Guard companies.
The fight is also supported by teams from INEM, the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests, the Portuguese Red Cross and Afocelca, air assets and tracked vehicles.
In the previous day’s assessment, the national commander mentioned 44 initial sorties for air assets, 51 extended sorties, four air coordination and five observation missions.
“The night went according to plan,” added Andre Fernandez, stressing that the defense of the villages along the perimeter was successful, as well as the first attempts to stabilize the fire on Monday night.
So far, there have been 19 minor injuries and three major injuries, none of which are life-threatening, as well as damage to the first and second houses. From Monday to Tuesday, 45 people had to leave their homes.
Asked about criticism from the President of the League of Portuguese Firefighters, who argued that firefighters should take care of the initial firefighting, the national commander only said that “there is a properly implemented system of operations management”.
“We’re going to focus on what’s important, which is stabilizing the fire and restoring security conditions,” said Andre Fernandez, who assured that all the capabilities of the combat device are being used, as well as constantly contacting the Integrated Rural Fire Management Agency.
In news about the seven firefighters who could not be contacted on Monday, the official downplayed the situation, saying that “the emergency mechanism of the SIRESP radio station was not activated” and that “it is not abnormal in what fighting is like.”
Answering a question about the use of military means in combat, he said that there are crawling vehicles deployed by the army on the ground.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
