The fire that has raged in Odemira since Saturday entered late Monday afternoon in the northern part of the municipality of Monchique, forcing the removal of 18 people from their homes and a rural tourism unit.
Speaking to Lusa, Paulo Alves, mayor of Monchique, said today that people were taken to the population service area installed at the Manuel Nascimento School.
«Some are still there, but the people who were in rural tourism have already left», he added, adding that the tourist unit where some people were staying is located in the Foz do Besteiro area.
According to Paulo Alves, the fire, which broke out on Saturday in the municipality of Odemira, entered at the end of the afternoon in the area of Alcanforado, in the parish of Marmelete, in an area of confluence between the municipalities of Odemira, Aljezur and Monchique.
«The prevailing wind was from the southeast, but it rotated, causing projections that formed a fire front that developed towards Marmelete. It was fought at night by firefighters and crawling machines », he described.
According to the mayor, the high humidity at night that was felt in the area helped to fight the fire, although at 10:00 am the president of that municipality still could not update the situation.
The work carried out overnight tonight in the fight against the rural fire allowed for a «stabilization of the fire perimeter», but there are still two critical points to be concerned about, according to Civil Protection.
"We maintain two critical points: one to the north, in the area of Delfeira, which inspires a lot of concern, and also to the south, on the front facing Monchique", said the regional commander of Emergency and Civil Protection of the Alentejo, José Ribeiro, at a point of situation to journalists around 9:30 am, at the command post in São Teotónio, parish where the fire started, in the Baiona area.
José Ribeiro referred that, after the operations had the defense of the populations as a priority – the GNR had already displaced 1.438 citizens as a precaution -, there was an adjustment of the strategic plan and «the work of today will be more focused on the suppression of the fire".
The number of people assisted by the National Institute of Medical Emergencies (INEM) in this fire rose to 40, namely 28 firefighters, four civil protection agents and eight civilians, mainly due to fatigue.
As for the roads that have conditioned circulation, the regional commander explained that the situation remains in relation to Monday.
In other words, the National Road (EN) 120, between São Teotónio and Odeceixe, in the neighboring municipality of Aljezur, and the municipal roads 501, 1186, 1001 are cut off from traffic.
The rural fire in an area of bush and pine forest has entered the Algarve a few times since Saturday, having on Monday afternoon surrounded the center of Odeceixe.
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