Forest fires consumed until August 31 more than 106,500 hectaresthe fourth highest value of burned surface in the last 10 years, revealed this Wednesday the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF).
The latest ICNF report indicates that between January 1 and August 31, 9,701 fires rural areas that resulted 106,639 hectares (ha) of burned areaCome in stands (54,328 ha), bushes (42,367 ha) Y agriculture (9,944 ha).
Comparing the figures for 2022 with the history of the previous 10 years, it is observed that there were 15% fewer rural fires and 36% more area burned compared to the annual average” of the last 10 years, the document specifies.
The report advances that the year 2022 presents, until August 31, the sixth highest value in number of fires and the fourth highest value of surface burned since 2012.
Provisional data shows that the The years with the largest area burned in the last decade, up to August 31, were 2017 (236,485 hectares), 2013 (130,393) and 2016 (128,515)..
In turn, the The years with the highest number of dwellings were 2012 (19,071), 2013 (16,114), 2015 (16,034), 2017 (14,344) and 2016 (10,942)..
According to the ICNF, the The highest number of fires was recorded in the districts of Porto (2,294), Braga (1,066) and Vila Real (830) and were “mostly small” since they do not exceed one hectare of burned area, but the The most affected district in the burned area was Guarda with 24,773 hectaresrepresenting more than 23% of the total area burned until August 31.
Other districts with more area burned were Vila Real, with 24,105 hectares (close to 23% of the total), and Leiria, with 10,069 hectares (9% of the total).
The ICNF states that the municipalities of Guarda, Manteigas, Covilhã, Vila Real and Ourém were also the most affected.
The document also shows that, in 2022, fires with a burned area of less than one hectare are the most frequent, representing 82% of all rural fires, and until August 31 there were 16 large fireswith a burned area greater than or equal to 1000 hectares.
The largest fire to date was the one that began on August 6 in the municipality of Covilhã and reached the Serra da Estrela area. for 11 days, having consumed 24,334 hectares forest, followed by fire in the municipality of Murcia (Vila Real) which in July caused 7,184 hectares of burned area.
According to the document, July is the month with the highest number of rural fires, with a total of 2,745 fires, which corresponds to 28% of the total registered this year, and that month is also the month with the largest area burned, 49,888 hectares, which represents 47% of the total.
The ICNF also establishes that the real value of the burned area (106,639 ha) corresponds to 69% of the “weighted burned area”, which means that the burned area in 2022 is less than the “expected” burned area, taking into account the meteorological severity. . (high temperatures, strong wind, absence of precipitation and low relative humidity) verified.
Source: Observadora
