10,000 hectares burned and more than 1,500 firefighters mobilized against a fire in a natural park in the center of the country

For six days, the earth has been burning in Portugal. More than 1,500 firefighters were still mobilized on Thursday morning August 11 to put out a forest fire that started on Saturday in the Serra da Estrela natural park, a mountainous region in central Portugal. This forest fire, with a perimeter estimated Wednesday at 25 kilometers, has already consumed some 10,000 hectares, or 1/10th of the park, according to the European information system on forest fires.

The fire, which broke out on Saturday in the town of Covilha, 52,000 inhabitants, still mobilized around ten aerial means on Thursday morning, including one water bomber helicopter. Several minor injuries are to be deplored among the firefighters. On Wednesday, a campsite and a river beach in the region had to be evacuated as a preventive measure.

“There are supposedly a lot of ways” but “we don’t see them”, denounced Sergio Costa, mayor of Guarda (north) in statements to RTP, the Portuguese public radio and television service. The mayors of several municipalities affected by these fires criticized the poor management of resources on the ground, such as Flavio Massano, mayor of Manteigas. Earlier this week, he criticized the mismanagement of air assets. He believed that the relief had above all sought to protect the passage areas of the cycling tour of Portugal, to the detriment of the forest.

The Serra da Estrela Natural Park extends over more than 100,000 hectares on the highest mountain in mainland Portugal, which rises to some 2,000 meters above sea level. This site was classified as a world geo-park by Unesco in 2020 because of its exceptional geological heritage.

In 2017, the country experienced a deadly mega-fire. At least 58 people have died in the Leiria region.