More than 50 municipalities in the interior of the North and Center, Alto Alentejo and the Algarve are today in maximum danger of fire, according to the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA).
In very maximum fire danger are 54 municipalities in the districts of Bragança, Guarda, Viseu, Castelo Branco, Santarém Portalegre and Faro.
With very high danger, are about 90 municipalities in the districts of Faro, Beja, Évora, Lisbon, Santarém, Leiria, Coimbra, Viseu, Portalegre, Castelo Branco, Guarda, Bragança, Vila Real and Porto.
The IPMA also put in high fire danger dozens of other municipalities in the districts of Braga, Porto, Vila Real, Aveiro, Leiria, Santarém, Lisbon, Setúbal, Portalegre, Évora, Beja and Faro.
The fire risk determined by IPMA has five levels, ranging from low to maximum and the calculations are obtained from air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and amount of precipitation in the last 24 hours.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 5,112 fire incidents have affected more than 10,500 hectares of rural areas.
The IPMA predicts a small rise in temperature in the central and southern interior and sometimes strong wind in the western coastal strip south of Cabo da Roca, in the western Algarve and in the highlands from the afternoon.
Because of the increase in wind intensity, the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC) launched on Sunday a warning to the population due to the worsening risk of rural fire, calling for preventive measures to be taken.
The main measures – in accordance with the legal provisions in force – are the prohibition of extensive burning without authorization and, on days of very high and maximum fire risk, it is forbidden to burn piles without authorization by prior communication to the authorities.
It is also forbidden to use fire for cooking in all rural areas, unless used outside critical areas and in places duly authorized for that purpose”, and it is forbidden to “fumigate or disinfect in apiaries unless the fumigators have spark arresters”.
As for temperatures, the minimums will fluctuate today between 12º Celsius (Viseu) and 22ºC (Faro) and the maximums between 23ºC (Viana do Castelo and Porto) and 35ºC (Castelo Branco).
