The municipalities of Tomar in the district of Santarém and Silves, Loulé, Sant Bras de Alportel and Tavira in the district of Faro present the highest fire risk this Sunday, according to the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA).
41 municipalities in the districts of Bragança (Bragança, Macedo de Cavaleiros, Vimioso, Miranda do Douro), Vila Real (Sabrosa and Tabuaçu), Guarda (Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo), Castelo Branco (Covilhã, Belmonte , Fundau, Castelo Branco, Vila de Rei, Vila Velha de Rodao, Proenza a Nova, Serta and Fundau), Portalegre (Nisa, Castelo di Vide, Marvão, Portalegre and Gavian), Santarém (Masan, Abrantes, Sardoal, Constance, Chamusca, Vila Nova da Barquinha, Ferreira do Zezere, Ouren, Alcanena and Rio Mayor), Lisbon (Mafra and Loures), Beja (Almodovar) and Faro (Alcutim, Castro Marim, Aljezur, Monchique, Portimão, Lagos and Vila do Bispo).
Due to the hot and dry weather forecast, IPMA has also placed most of the country’s remaining municipalities in a high to moderate rural fire danger level.
The fire danger defined by IPMA has five levels, from low to high, and calculations are made based on air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and rainfall over the past 24 hours.
IPMA forecasts continued hot weather over the next few days, highlighting maximum temperatures around 41/42 degrees Celsius in Évora and Beja and above 30 degrees in most areas.
What is at stake is “the combined action of an anticyclonic region between Western Europe and the Madeira archipelago, as well as a low pressure valley stretching from North Africa to the Iberian Peninsula”, which “causes the transport of tropical air masses of continental origin, which favors the meteorological situation of hot, dry and stable weather” .
This IPMA forecast also prompted the National Emergency and Civil Protection Administration (ANEPC) to warn of a high risk of fires throughout the mainland, recommending preventive measures such as a ban on extensive or agglomerated burning without permission from local authorities.
On days of very high and maximum fire danger, it is also prohibited to use fire for cooking throughout the countryside, except outside critical areas and in specially designated places, as well as fumigation or disinsection in apiaries, except when fumigators have spark arresters and use brush cutters, brush cutters and shredders.