According to the provisional report released, from August 1 to 15, 3,484 hectares burned, while in the previous month, fires had consumed an area of 1,582 hectares. The area burned in these first two weeks corresponds to 44% of the total burned area this year in mainland Portugal, which is 7,949 hectares.
The impact of the flames in the last two weeks was particularly visible in scrubland areas (1,676 hectares), as well as in forest stands (1,175) and agricultural areas (633), changing the scenario observed in the previous month, in which a larger area had burned in forest stands (732) compared to scrubland (475) or agriculture (331).
This month is also heading towards a new maximum in the number of rural fires in 2024, with 722 occurrences in the first fortnight, not far from the total of 1,031 fires recorded in July. In annual terms, there have already been 3,485 rural fires.
“Comparing the values for 2024 with the history of the previous 10 years, it is noted that there were 58% fewer rural fires and 87% less burned area compared to the annual average for the period,” highlighted the ICNF, emphasizing: “The year 2024 presents, up to August 15, the lowest value in number of fires and the lowest value of burned area since 2014”.
Statistics for the causes of fires between January and the first half of August this year reveal that arson is the most frequent isolated cause among the 2,474 investigated occurrences (of which 1,843 with conclusive investigations), being responsible for 27% of rural fires – a number higher than the 24% observed at the end of July.
However, aggregating the different types of burnings and fire uses reaches a total of 38% in the causes of fires, but below the 42% that were in the report until July 31.
Among other causes, rural fires with accidental origins (17%), caused by other unspecified causes (10%), reignitions (4%), bonfires (2%), and fires caused by natural reasons such as lightning strikes (2%) also stand out.
At the regional level, the district of Bragança now has the largest burned area since the beginning of the year, with 2,764 hectares (almost 35% of the national total), surpassing Viana do Castelo, which led at the end of last month with only 712 hectares and is now the second with the most hectares consumed by fire (846), followed by Beja, with 779.
This situation was decisively influenced by the large fire that broke out in the Vimioso region last week, consuming more than two thousand hectares of land.
In terms of the number of rural fires, the districts of Porto (594), Viana do Castelo (328), and Braga (288) stand out. Conversely, Bragança, which is the district with the most burned area, simultaneously registers the lowest number of occurrences, 66, along with Coimbra.
