It is nine o’clock at night and the wind is getting stronger and stronger in the Aveiro neighbourhood. In Rua do Vale, in Ribeira de Fráguas – or in “hell”, as the residents now call it – the space is too narrow for the constant coming and going of the fire trucks. Little by little, the gusts help to create a scene worthy of a horror film: on both sides of the road, Two tongues of fire descend towards the housesburning everything they pass, as if they had a rendezvous halfway. Between the noise of the firemen and the GNR sirens and the desperate cries of the neighbours, who run from one side to the other, what is most striking is the incessant noise of the burning wood.

The situation is similar in several regions of the country, which led the Government to decree the state of alert for another 48 hours, until Thursday, September 19. This Monday, five districts woke up with the highest risk of fire in the last 23 years. Over a hundred fires broke out throughout the day, especially in the central and northern regions of the country. The areas that most concern the authorities are Sever do Vouga, Albergaria-a-Velha and Oliveira de Azeméis. Three people died, including two civilians. One of them was burned to death a few kilometres from here, in the Sobreiro forest area. At least 20 people, including firefighters and civilians, were injured.

“We have no way out of here.“Says Vera Moreira. She is 53 years old, has lived with her parents on this street for more than four decades, and she says she has never seen anything like it. If the situation worsens – and all it takes is for the wind to pick up to make this happen more easily – the only solution is to flee by car along the road that leads to Ribeira de Fráguas. But with the evolution of the flames, even the escape plan seems dangerous. As the situation worsened, Vera and her parents began to fill buckets with water, which they use to water their own backyard, but also that of their neighbours. “Mrs Conceição lives right here. He is sick and does not leave the house. I have been pouring water on the dry grass in the back.” One of the biggest problems, she explains, is that not everyone has the same access to water. “The water from the Chamber is not enough. We are lucky, we don’t have to worry about the quantity, but here on this street there are many people who have their water measured,” he assures, before warning that, for many, “the water may not even arrive on Monday night.”

As we speak, the fire reaches an apple tree a few meters from the houses, setting fire to all the nearby trees.Now there is no salvation“laments the mother of Vera Moreira, an 80-year-old woman. The neighbours heard the warnings from the authorities, but said they could not do much more to free themselves from the terror of the flames. “We heard the warnings, but nobody explained anything to us,” complains Vera, before assuming that the fault does not lie with the Firefighters, who “do what they can”. “We can even be here watering, but what if the fire catches these pines here?” she continues. “There are no miracles…” The trees she describes are in the short space that separates the house from one of the tongues of fire that come down from the mountain. Given the size and flammability of the pines, it would indeed be a miracle that the flames reach here without causing material damage.

As firefighters tried to put out the blaze here and in many other places, the prime minister said at the headquarters of the National Civil Protection Authority that the next day would continue “on the brink of tragedy.” For those who live on Rua do Vale and spend the night running up and down the street with a bucket in their hand, tragedy has not yet come. It is already a reality.

“I just hope the ice rink doesn’t burn down!” Population in shock, from the oldest to the youngest

Sever do Vouga is one of the regions that most worries the authorities. Looking around the street, you can see several columns of smoke forming. Between black, white and grey, the colours change, as a new wave of fire trucks arrive to put out the new fires that appear, or those that flare up again (often more than once). In this area, The wind pushed the flames towards the center of the city.and even a house burned down.

The Pingo Doce supermarket, for example, was completely surrounded by flames, but it survived. On the land next door, the Gineto car workshop was not so lucky. More than 30 cars burned, as well as a considerable pile of tyres. “I was working from 8 in the morning, this arrived here at 9 in the morning,” describes Carlos Simões, one of the workshop managers, explaining that the cars burned for about 30 minutes. Around 9:30 a.m., four fire trucks came to put out the flames. “The fire reached the trees and quickly spread to the cars.” Fortunately, these were vehicles “at the end of their useful life,” so the economic damage was not so high. In the park next door, a few meters from this scrap yard, the cars ended up escaping.

“Now all this is going to be dismantled,” explains Abílio Simões, Carlos’ brother and owner of the workshop. More than 10 hours after the fire, he had to return to the site because the pile of tires showed signs of catching fire again. “This is a bit complicated, but I think I can fix it.” For several minutes, Abílio calmly waters the group of more than a hundred tires, which are now nothing more than an irregular pile of melted rubber. Next to them are eight bottles of gasoline, were empty when the flames arrived.

The fire has come close to Sever do Vouga on several occasions, but everyone claims to have never seen anything like it. Despite warnings, neighbours cannot resist going out into the street to watch the fight against the flames. And they remain there as the day progresses, while new fronts open up and others enter the next phase. One of them is visible from Pessegueiro do Vouga, where the family of Don Alfredo, aged 70, watches the latest developments from the courtyard of the building. Whoever passes by, also enters the earth.If the wind comes… it’s over“One of them comments. “I’ve never seen anything like that in my life,” replies Alfredo. On the balcony above, the neighbours joke: “We’ve booked a VIP spot!”

This is what Teresa, 42, says, trying to keep her daughter entertained as the disaster unfolds before everyone’s eyes. Valentina is 7 years old and is playing as best she can: she runs and jumps around, talks to strangers who appear and assures her that she is not afraid. “I’m just afraid that I will end up on the skating rink!” she admits. Her mother assures her that if that happens, the fire brigade will be there to help.

A few metres up the road, Mafalda, a 70-year-old woman, laments the neglect of the region’s streets, which also poses a threat to homes. “The Junta doesn’t even order the cutting of the brambles,” she protests, explaining that, since the morning, when she left home, she had been “watching” the weeds that had accumulated there with a watering can. “It’s a danger! They work like lighters,” explains Mafalda, who assures that this is why the neighbour’s yard, who was absent in the meantime, also ended up burning down. Next door, one of the neighbours, José Pedro Cruz, remembers that four years ago, the Sever do Vouga area suffered a wave of fires similar to this one. “If you look across the river, you see a new row of eucalyptus trees. From then on, four years ago, everything burned! This is the same or worse. It’s ready to burn again.”

“I want to help the firefighters, but at night the cat is grey.” Roof surrounded by fire

“Nobody sleeps today!” The phrase is repeated by António Neves in Telhadela, Albergaria-a-Velha, as he helps a fire truck cross a narrow street full of residents waiting for help to arrive. The flames are 50 metres from a house and several metres from a tyre warehouse. “Yesterday he was on foot all night, today he is here again, everything is here, today Nobody sleeps, it’s impossible.”The mask protects from the smoke, but it doesn’t hide António’s tired face or the tears in his eyes. He admits that he keeps in regular contact with the president of the Parish Council and that he has been trying to help put out the flames for more than 24 hours. “After turning the key so much the van doesn’t start, it’s already parked, but I don’t stop, I hook it up to the tractor and go back.” António would like to see more operators in Telhadela and assumes that he has already tried to explain the best ways to get to the fire. “But they don’t trust, they don’t know, that’s how it is. I want to help, but at night the cat is brown.”Despite being retired for more than 20 years, António does not stay still, he walks up and down the street as the fire approaches.

The owner of the tyre warehouse is not there. The wind is blowing ever stronger and tons of rubber could catch fire at any moment. A convertible van loaded with a water tank and a generator is trying to prevent disaster. “We are doing what we can, the owner is my brother who is in Albergaria-a-velha, we have to try to solve something. The firemen are coming here to fight the fire.” Manuel dos Santos is watering the tyres and the roof of the warehouse, in an effort that may seem inglorious given the wall of flames approaching from the south.

On the other side of Telhadela, a kilometre further north, there is another fire. The flames are three cars away from Deolinda’s house: “The only thing left to burn was this side, everything was already on fire here, this little bit was missing. But that’s not mine. My part is clean, as you can see there, everything remains to be cleaned. The owners of the land didn’t even show up. I know who they are, but they didn’t even come to help.” Deolinda has lived in Telhadela for 44 years and says she has never experienced a similar situation. When the fire gets close, a fire truck appears and speeds down the street. “Go to the sports complex, it’s complicated there too.”

Indoor football is Telhadela’s star sport, supported by the town’s Recreation and Sports Group, which also promotes popular marches and organises the Carnival. Nowadays, the ball doesn’t roll and the music doesn’t play. At the door of the pavilion, through the thick smoke, you can see the lights of the firefighting equipment and people running, sometimes to ask for help, sometimes to help those who work. “Here we have water, juice, milk, fruit. Firefighters come here to get what they need and some stay overnight.Filipe Pereira has moved from being the director of the Telhadela RDA to the coordinator of the distribution of supplies and overnight stays in the pavilion. “The people mobilised and many people wanted to come here and leave what they could, even a supermarket comes here to leave products.” Next to the building, a dozen men are helping to fight the fire as soon as they spot a new fire. “Even now the fire was here next door and there next to the houses. Now it is quiet, but before it was just around the corner.” Near midnight, Filipe Pereira still does not know how many firefighters he will receive in the next few hours, but he is ready to help. He cannot find anything similar in his box of memories: “Not even my mother, who is already 76 years old. We have never experienced anything like this.”