Four people were left homeless and two houses were destroyed in fires on the west and north coasts of Madeira, which are currently in the recovery and surveillance phase, the Minister of Health and Civil Protection said this Sunday.
A total of seven houses were damaged, six of which were in the municipality of Calheta in the west and one in the municipality of Porto Moniz on the northern coast, the worst hit by the fires that broke out on Wednesday.
According to regional secretary Pedro Ramos, the four homeless people temporarily sheltered in family homes are residents of the parishes of Ponta do Pargo and Fajão de Ovelha in Calheta.
“At the moment there are no active fires. We are in the phase of liquidation and active surveillance,” a government official said at a press conference at the Regional Civil Protection Service in Funchal, where he presented the state of the fire situation. at 13:00.
There are 55 firefighters on site from all Madeira island corporations, supported by a further 45 specialists from the Institute of Forestry and Conservation, GNR, PSP and the armed forces, assisted by 14 fire engines and 20 fire engines. support and logistics.
The only aircraft operating in the region today has already carried out 11 water drops, a total of 294 since the start of the fires.
“Seven affected houses have been identified. In Calheta there are six: two houses completely damaged, three houses damaged and one empty house,” said Pedro Ramos, to then explain: “Four people who are homeless are in family homes and friends, the Madeira Housing Institute and the municipality continue to accept measures to ensure resettlement.”
They are a woman from the parish of Ponta do Pargo, another from the parish of Fajão da Ovelha and a family of a mother and son, 14 years old, also from Fajão da Ovelha.
A fire destroyed an empty house in Porto Moniz.
After the fires, 72 people received medical treatment and 20 psychological support, but there were no reports of serious injuries.
According to the regional secretary, the electrical network has already been fully restored in the most affected areas of the municipalities of Calheta and Porto Moniz, and from a telecommunications point of view, the network is only down in the Lamaceiros section of Porto Moniz.
Repair work on the water supply network continues, closing several roads and all recommended walking routes in Calheta and Porto Moniz, as well as a walking route in the municipality of Ribeira Brava and another in Camara de Lobos.
The Porto Moniz health center is open 24 hours a day and 39 elderly people from the Lamaceiros home, who were evicted as a precaution on Thursday, are returning to the facilities today.
According to the Regional Civil Protection Service of Madeira, since October 4, several fires have been reported in the municipalities of Ribeira Brava, Ponta do Sol, Camara de Lobos and Calheta, located in the west of the island, as well as in the municipality of Madeira. Porto Moniz, on the north coast.
The most destructive fire broke out in the Prazeres parish in Calheta on Wednesday and then spread to the neighboring municipality of Porto Moniz.
On the night of Friday to Saturday, a new fire broke out in the Terreiros area in the upper areas of the municipality of Ribeira Brava, which spread to the forest area of the parish of Jardim da Serra in the municipality of Câmara. de Lobos.
The suspect in the arson of the forest in the municipality of Calheta, arrested by the judicial police at the scene of the crime on Friday, was heard in court on Saturday and placed in preventive detention, a measure of compulsion replaced by hospitalization in a psychiatric hospital. .
Three regions of the Madeira archipelago – the north coast, the south coast and Porto Santo – continue to be under an orange weather warning this Sunday due to persistent high maximum temperatures that exceed 30 degrees every day.
Today, the archipelago, with the exception of mountainous areas, is under an orange warning, as hot weather has led to an increase in the number of fires since the first week of the month.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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