Air assets are still failing to act on the Monchique fire due to the thick smoke hanging over the area, said District Deputy Commander Abel Gomes at the Civil Protection press conference now taking place in Monchique.
Commander Abel Gomes also revealed that, from 12:00 onwards, the wind is expected to increase, which is a situation that "worries". «We will have an adverse weather picture, the intensity of the winds will increase», towards São Marcos da Serra.
In favor, that responsible said that "all the commitment is made during the night", with the battery work of the track machines.
When he is working in the area of Caldas de Monchique, Abel Gomes admitted that this is a “very sensitive situation”, with the means “pre-positioned”, after residents and tourists in these areas have been withdrawn.
The deputy commander said that, for a stronger attack, "the possibility of providing air support is lacking", but helicopters and planes will only be able to start acting "when the smoke dissipates". "As the hours go by, we wait for the smoke to disappear."
Despite the two fronts, Abel Gomes guaranteed that at this moment the «situation is much more favorable than it was during the night», although «sensitive» situations continue to deserve «all our concern and attention», in the fight against this fire , which has “a very large perimeter”.
As for affected houses, the official added that he still does not have concrete data on the "affected building", not knowing if it is just "vacant houses" and "agricultural support buildings". But the Sul Informação knows that there are houses that have burned down, totally or partially, in various parts of the mountain, namely in the area around the village of Monchique.
The operational deputy commander stressed that "safeguarding human life is the greatest concern" of civil protection agents on the ground, although there were "several houses defended".
During the night, several localities and places were evacuated, namely Caldas de Monchique, the urbanization of Montinho, the MacDonald hotel, Barranco do Banho, Monchicão (near the Odelouca river).
Further down, in the municipality of Portimão, the populations of the area of Vale Boi and Rasmalho were removed, as the flames follow along the road between Monchique and Portimão.
Most of the displaced people were taken to the EB 2,3 School in Monchique, while others stayed with relatives. At the moment, there are still no conditions for the populations to return home.
The access roads to Monchique are almost all cut, either on the side of São Marcos da Serra and Alferce, or on the side of Portimão. In this case, traffic is cut off at the roundabout at Porto de Lagos, as the reporter from the Sul Informação.
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