Wildfires in Ferreira do Zezere (Barradas and Rio Fundeiro)

Wildfire broke out on Tue 3rd August 2010, in the forests which line the west side of the River Zezere reservoir, within the concelho of Ferreira do Zezere. The fire started around Barradas and swept down to Rio FUndeiro, through the eucalyptus forests, it was propelled by the winds and devastated a large area in just a few hours.  The cause of the fire is not yet known.

In the second photo you can see a car, within an hour the fire was burning on the grass banking on the left of this photo and around the back of the houses shown here, this is the village of Rio Fundeiro. One house was burned down but all others seem to have survived unscathed.

Everyone with a boat on the lake seemed to come to help evacuate the stranded people from the surrounding villages that had migrated to the lake edge. They were taken to the far side of the lake, where there is a watersports centre, which sheltered them until the Bombeiros allowed them to return, late at night.

The fire was dampened down by evening but the Bombeiros had to be called out to Rio Fundeiro again at 3am when a flare-up occurred. As I write this on Thursday morning fires are still being dampened down and householders are afraid to leave their houses whilst they keep a watch on the smouldering trees and brushland until the smoke stops!

Eyewitness account from Rio Fundeio by Debbie Phelan

It was a very scary day but we lived to tell the tale!

We were in Rio Fundeiro for lunch at a friends house and ended up having to run for it. We ran to the river and it chased us all the way but we were rescued by motorboat and dropped us on the other size of the river, where we watched miles of beautiful forest burn.
My friend stayed behind to hose all around her house while we took her daughter with us. Thank goodness her house survived.

Before it got to us we tried to leave the area but ended up having to turn back as everywhere around us was burning. The car stalled when doing a 10 point turn on the narrow country road with fire on each side of us. This was definitely the scariest day of my life!

We were picked up again by the boat late at night. Scary but we survived and had a beer at my friend’s house before driving through the smouldering forest to get home!

We all need to be on Fire Watch.

Hey Portugal issues this warning to every reader. As residents of Central Portugal we should all be aware that the current fire risk is High, it has been one of the driest summers on record and so we all need to be especially vigilant, and take note of the following reminders:

• If you have visitors staying with you over the summer then please make sure they are fully aware of the fire risk.
• A fire started in the next village to us recently as the blade of a brush-cutter caught a stone and sparked. If you can use a strimmer whilst the fire risk is high, then it would be safer.
• DO NOT leave any rubbish if you go on a picnic, glass bottle start fires!
• ONLY BBQ in designated areas. Sparks from BBQ’s start fires!
• CIGARETTE ENDS should NEVER be thrown from a car window or stamped out on the grass. Cigarette ends start fires!
• If you see a fire then call 117 (or 112) make sure you have information available about where you are and where you can see the fire or smoke. Do not delay, the sooner the bombeiros can get to the fire then the more land, property and even lives can be saved.
• Do what you can to help but NEVER put yourself in danger, that will only make more work for the Bombeiros, if they are rescuing you they are not fighting the fire.

The ANPC website has a live status report of all current fires, it is a very interesting website about the Portuguese Civil Protection Authority, and it is in English too.