The road to the highlands of Porto Moniz is already open.

The access road to the highlands of Ponteau Moniz, which had been closed since Friday morning due to a fire raging in the municipality, was reopened in the afternoon, allowing residents to return home.

Some residents went down to the village in the morning and were unable to go in the other direction because, due to the fire, the movement of cars was prohibited in the meantime.

A group of reporters from Lusa traveled by car to the district of Santa, in the parish of Porto Moniz, in the municipality of the same name, and drove part of the road towards the parish of Achadas da Cruz.

Along the way, damaged public lighting poles and others could be seen lying on the side of the road.

The smell of smoke still had some intensity, and the landscape around the road that had once been green had turned black.

At the site of the annual Porto Moniz cattle fair, some pavilions have been completely destroyed.

In the Santa Claus area, the fire was close to homes and many residents spent the night at the local parish center. Lusa walked past the place around 5:30 p.m., noticing that there were still elderly people there.

The fire initially broke out on Wednesday, around 18:00, in the parish of Prazeres, municipality of Calheta, and spread during the night to the neighboring parish of Fajan da Ovelha and then, on Thursday afternoon, to the parishes of Ponta do Pargo (still in the municipality Calheta), Achadas da Cruz and Porto Moniz, both already in the municipality of Porto Moniz.

On Thursday afternoon, a fire was also reported in the parish of Quinta Grande in the municipality of Camara de Lobos, which remains active. On the same day, a fire broke out in Curral das Freiras, in the same municipality as Câmara de Lobos, but was brought under control.

The government of Madeira declared a state of emergency on Thursday due to fires raging in the region, thereby activating the Regional Civil Protection Emergency Plan.