The fire that broke out today in Monchique, in the district of Faro, has been contained by the firefighters, after around six hours of fighting, said a Civil Protection source.
The fire, which broke out at 2:51 p.m. in the Picota area, affected an area of scrubland and forest and did not affect homes or other buildings, a source from the Algarve Regional Emergency and Civil Protection Command told Lusa.
The fire has been contained, but a team of around 300 operatives is still on the ground, since the work “hasn’t entered the aftermath” and “there’s still a lot of care to be taken”, although the situation is “favorable” and the fire is “yielding to the means”, explained the same source.
A total of 319 operatives are still working on the fire, with the support of 100 vehicles, after the air resources ceased their activity at sunset.
“[The air resources] are running out. At the moment, I still have three units, but they should all be demobilizing because they have to return at sunset, around 08:08 and 08:09,” added the Civil Protection source.
The next few hours are viewed with optimism by the firefighting command, who have seen the upstream device yield results.
“The expectation is positive, but always with important surveillance work, with the means that are on the ground committed to the entire perimeter of the fire,” he added, classifying the situation as “favorable”.
More than 300 operatives, supported by 12 aircraft, were fighting the fire, which broke out today in an area of scrubland and forest in Picota, in the municipality of Monchique, the alert having been received at 14:51.
When the fire was detected, “it was immediately very intense”, but without putting homes or buildings at risk, a source from the regional Civil Protection command said previously.
The same source said at the time that the combat teams had managed to deploy resources on “the entire left and right flank”, but were still trying to get to the “head” of the fire”.
The same civilian source said that the fire was raging in the direction of the town of Fornalha, south of where it broke out, but stressed that, despite heading in that direction, there were no homes or buildings at risk.
