Live / The Government reassesses the alert situation due to the fires on Tuesday

The aerial firefighting team is already on the ground. According to information from Civil Protection, there are currently nine devices that help fight fires, eight of which are in the Vila Real district, in the Murça and Vila Pouca de Aguiar fires.

This is the most worrying fire (a situation that has persisted since yesterday) and the one that mobilizes the most operations, with more than 630 firefighters on the ground, supported by 218 vehicles.

Rodrigues Alves, regional emergency and civil protection commander of the North Regional Command, warns of the difficulty of the next few hours in the fire of Murça and Vila Pouca de Aguiar (which are being treated jointly).

Speaking to CNN, the official revealed that there are three active fronts and that the night allowed a “more effective fight” and “closer” due to low temperatures, humidity and the decrease in wind intensity between 2:00 a.m. am and 6:00 pm am. .

However, the commander admits that the increase in temperatures, the difficulty in accessing the fire fronts and the increasing intensity of the wind are factors that will “difficult” the fight against the fire in the coming hours.

Some 50 municipalities in the districts of Bragança, Vila Real, Viseu, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Santarém, Castelo Branco, Portalegre and Faro present maximum danger of rural fire, according to the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA).

The IPMA also placed several municipalities in Vila Real, Viseu, Bragança, Guarda, Coimbra, Leiria, Santarém, Castelo Branco, Portalegre, Lisboa, Beja and Faro at very high risk of rural fire.

Fire danger, determined by the IPMA, has five levels, ranging from low to high, and calculations are obtained from air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and the amount of precipitation in the last 24 hours. hours.

At 7:30 a.m. today, the fires that devastated the municipalities of Murça and Chaves, in the district of Vila Real, were the ones that mobilized the most resources, with almost 700 operators on the ground, supported by more than 270 ground assets, according to civil protection data.

The Government’s decision regarding the reassessment of the alert situation for rural fires should be known late this Tuesday afternoon.

A source from the communication office of the Ministry of the Interior (MAI) told the Observer that the Government’s conclusions on the level of response to the rural fires – the continuity of the alert situation or the return to a state of contingency – will be known after. The hearing of Minister José Luís Carneiro, who will be heard this afternoon in the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees, scheduled for 3:00 p.m., will conclude.

* with Rui Casanova

The fires that devastated the municipalities of Murça and Chaves, in Vila Real, were the ones that mobilized the most media at 7:00 a.m., with almost 700 operations on the ground, supported by more than 270 ground media, according to civil protection.

According to information available at 07:00 on the website of the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC), the fire that broke out on Sunday in Cortinhas, in the municipality of Murça, in the district of Vila Real, still dominated.

A civil protection source told Lusa, on Monday night, that the fire in Murça spread to the municipalities of Vila Pouca de Aguiar and Valpaços.

Earlier, the mayor of Vila Pouca de Aguiar, Alberto Machado, had said that some 300 people from towns such as Valongo de Milhais, Ribeirinha, Penabeice, Mascanho, Paredes and Vale de Égua were removed and transported to the Murça sports center and to the residence of students, located in said town of the district of Vila Real.

At dawn this Tuesday there are two fires in mainland Portugal. According to place of Civil Protection, 1349 firefighters are on the ground, more than 700 in active fires, supported by 240 vehicles.

The fires in the district of Vila Real, specifically in Murça and Chaves, continue to be the ones that mobilize the most operations. The Guarda fire, one of the most worrying on Monday, is about to end and 140 are still operational on the ground.

The Government decides today whether to extend the alert situation due to the risk of rural fire, which ends at 11:59 p.m., or if it reactivates the contingency, which was in force until Sunday for seven days.

The alert situation, the lowest level of response provided for in the Basic Civil Protection Law, is in force in mainland Portugal from 00:00 this Monday until 23:59 today, as temperatures have dropped.

The Ministries of Internal Administration, National Defense, Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, Health, Environment and Climate Action and Agriculture and Food will meet again today to reassess the situation, taking into account that as of Wednesday there will be a new rising temperatures.

Continental Portugal was in a contingency situation, according to the level of response provided for in the Basic Civil Protection Law, between July 11 and last Sunday.

Good day. In this live blog We will follow the entire situation of the fires in Portugal up to the minute, the day that the Government will reassess the alert situation that is in force, with the possibility of returning to the state of contingency due to the increase in temperatures as of Wednesday-just.

This Monday the most complex situation was experienced in the district of Vila Real. An elderly couple died trying to escape the flames that devastated Murça.

Five ongoing fires in Portugal fought by more than 700 operatives