Where before there was conviviality and joy, now there is a trail of destruction. Arriving at Ilha Deserta on the morning of this Wednesday, March 3rd, was heartbreaking: Estaminé, the only restaurant on the island, it was completely razed to the ground by a raging fire and was reduced to nothing.
Amidst the rubble, the Firefighters Sapadores de Faro This morning they were doing the aftermath of the fire that broke out yesterday at around 22:45 and whose causes are still unknown.
Some smoke came out of the boards and the noise of firefighters was heard walking through the rubble. But the destruction was such that it was hardly possible to notice which objects were those, now destroyed: chairs, tables, appliances. The damage will be around 1 million euros.
As for the bridge, which connected the pier to the Estaminé, it was also partially destroyed.
Last night, to fight the fire, firefighters used motor pumps to remove water from the estuary. Since then, the operatives have been in place.
With the fire under control, what matters now "is the aftermath work to prevent a hot flash here or there", as he explained to Sul Informação José Tomás, commander of Firefighters Sapadores de Faro.
Estaminé was an emblematic restaurant not only in the municipality of Faro, as in the whole Algarve, famous for its fish and seafood dishes. The space came to be frequented, for example, by Roman Abramovich, Russian tycoon owner of Chelsea, also working as a beach support.
It is the only establishment on the island, where only one man lives and which, at the time of the fire, was outside Deserta.
José Vargas, owner of Estaminé, spoke with the Sul Informação shortly after arriving at the location – still this morning – and summed up, in a few words, what he felt: “it is a life of work, all reduced to ashes”.
“We were using this time when we were closed for improvements, with a view to an opening in the higher season and now this has happened”, he said, moved.
Even so, the entrepreneur has the objective of rebuilding the restaurant again and will even have the help, if possible, from the Chamber of Faro. The mayor Rogério Bacalhau, also in conversation with our newspaper, even said that “everyone's help is needed to rebuild the Estaminé”.
Only then will there be coexistence and joy again, in a place where today there is nothing but ashes.
Photos: Pedro Lemos | Sul Informação
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