The 30 guests at the Pestana Algarve Race hotel, next to the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, were evacuated "as a precaution and by decision of the hotel director", due to the proximity of the fire which started yesterday afternoon in Monchique e already arrived in the municipality of Portimão.
The Civil Protection also removed people from various locations located in the vicinity of the sports infrastructure, where fire is raging intensely.
The Pestana Group unit was evacuated «at around fifteen hours», when the director of this 5-star hotel João Martins decided to remove «the 30 hotel guests and the occupants of 15 apartments», as he revealed to Sul Informação.
Today, the Pestana Algarve Race was hosting a presentation session promoted by an international tire brand, which was attended by people from different parts of the world.
Next door, the Autodromo followed the same steps. «As a precautionary measure, we decided to suspend all activity at 15:30 pm», revealed the director of the Autodromo Paulo Pinheiro.
The flames also forced the Civil Protection to take precautions. “We are still carrying out a survey of the numbers, but several villages were evacuated, just as a matter of precaution. There were two people evacuated from Ataboal, another two from Carriçal, eight people from Moinho da Rocha and three from Montes de Cima. This survey is still being done, so these may not be the definitive numbers», the spokeswoman for the District Relief Operations Center told our newspaper.
On the spot, the reporter from Sul Informação testified how close the flames are to the hotel unit that was evacuated and whose guests were «redistributed to other hotels of the group here in the Algarve» . The evacuated local inhabitants, on the other hand, “are receiving support from the Portimão Council services”.
The fire continues to be fought by about 490 firefighters, supported by 154 vehicles, 9 aerial means (4 light, 2 medium, 3 heavy). At the moment, in addition to firefighters from all the Algarve's corporations, the forces on the ground are already having the help of reinforcement groups from Beja, Évora, Setúbal, Lisbon, Santarém and Portalegre.
See photos of the fire:
(Updated with statements by João Martins and Paulo Pinheiro)
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