Fourteen municipalities in the districts of Faro, Portalegre and Santarém pose the highest fire risk in the countryside this Monday on the day when the first increase of the year fire fighting equipment begins.
Municipalities of Lagos, Portimão, Monchique, Silves, Loulé, San Bras de Alportel and Tavira (Faro), Portalegre, Marvão (Portalegre), Chamusca, Constancia, Vila Nova da Barquinha, Tomar and Ferreira do Zezere are at the highest risk of fire. (Santarem). according to the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA).
About 100 municipalities in Faro, Beja, Lisbon, Coimbra, Leiria, Santarem, Viseu, Portalegre, Castelo Branco, Guarda, Vila Real and Bragança are at very high fire risk.
There are several municipalities in the high fire risk zone in all (18) counties of the Portuguese mainland.
The fire danger defined by IPMA has five levels, from minimum to maximum.
Calculations are made based on air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and precipitation over the past 24 hours.
This fire risk will remain high, gradually increasing over the course of the environment.
Since the beginning of the year, 2867 fires have already affected 8321 hectares of rural areas.
From Monday, rural firefighting assets will be stepped up with 10,400 operational and 32 air assets on the ground, two fewer than originally planned.
The Dedicated Rural Fire Control (DECIR) device for this year was unveiled in April and had 34 aircraft between May 15 and May 31, but will have 32 aircraft in service over the next 15 days, a Lusa source said. Ministry of the Interior.
The operatives participating in DECIR are members of the Volunteer Firefighters, the Special Civil Protection Squad, Republican National Guard troops, and employees of the Institute for Conservation of Nature and Forests, namely forest firefighters and forest firefighters.
Fire fighting equipment is again intensified on June 1, but this is the period from July to September, known for the most critical phase, the period when the most devices are mobilized: 13,891 operators from 3,084 teams and 2,990 vehicles are available this year, an increase of 7.5% by compared to 2022.