Madeira Island remains under yellow alert and under fire threat

According to IPMA, this Tuesday the island of Madeira presents maximum and very high risk of rural fires in some areas, resulting in a yellow alert for the northern and southern coasts and mountainous areas due to hot weather on the northern and southern coasts and mountainous areas.

According to the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), Madeira will continue to have areas of maximum and very high fire danger in the next few days.

Madeira Island, where a rural fire has been raging for six days, and Porto Santo are under a yellow weather warning until 6pm on Tuesday, the least severe, due to forecasts of hot weather.

A Yellow Alert is issued by IPMA whenever there is a risk to certain activities due to weather conditions.

IPMA forecasts periods of very cloudy skies this Tuesday across the archipelago and the possibility of light rain on the northern slopes, highlands of Madeira and Porto Santo until early morning.

The forecast also indicates light to moderate winds from the north-east, blowing moderate to strong in the highlands and in the extreme east and west of Madeira Island, sometimes gusting to 60 kilometres per hour.

In Funchal, temperatures will range from 22 to 28 degrees Celsius, and in Porto Santo from 22 to 27 degrees.

A rural fire in Madeira broke out on Wednesday in the Ribeira Brava mountains and spread to the municipality of Camara de Lobos the following day and to the municipality of Ponta do Sol via Paul da Serra over the weekend.

By Sunday, 160 people had been evicted from their homes as a precaution and taken to public facilities, but many residents had already returned or were returning home, with the exception of Fajã das Galinhas in Camara de Lobos.

At the beginning of Monday night, the fire had two active fronts: in Encumeada (Ribeira Brava) and Paul da Serra (Ponta do Sol), causing about 60 people to be evacuated from Furna (Ribeira Brava) to be transported to the municipal sports hall.

On the ground there were more than 40 fire engines and more than 150 firefighters from Madeira, the Azores and the Joint Operational Force of Civil Protection, who arrived from the continent, as well as the air force of the Regional Service of Civil Protection. to the functioning of other organisms.

The fight against the blaze was made more difficult by the winds and high temperatures, but there was no evidence of damage to homes or vital infrastructure. A firefighter was hospitalized due to exhaustion.

According to forecasts from the European Forest Fire Information System, seven thousand hectares have burned since the fire began.

Regional government president Miguel Albuquerque says it was arson, but the cause has not yet been revealed.