José Amado had already seen three other rural fires hit Galé de Cima, in the Algarve municipality of Aljezur, but “none like this one” that started in the neighboring municipality of Odemira and left him almost without sleep for a few days.
At the end of yesterday morning, with the rural fire already under resolution and while the firefighters continued to work in the area, to the sound of the mobilized aerial means, José, almost 78 years old, still could not make up the final accounts of the damage.
“The mountain of the house has not yet burned. I burned cork oaks, eucalyptus trees and I have a piece of land there that I haven't gone to see yet, with two hectares and [the trees] already nine years old. I don't know if it burned or not… But it must have burned”, he tells Lusa, between regret and resignation.
Like the house, the chicks and dogs escaped. He hasn't seen all the cats yet, but he's confident. It has yet to confirm the damage to another six-hectare plot of land.
After the GNR ordered him to leave the site – as it did with more than 1.400 people since Saturday in Odemira, Aljezur and Monchique, just in case -, José had to go to the village of Odeceixe, where he also has “a little house”. He returned at dawn on Wednesday to confirm that the fire “bitten almost at the foot of the door” of the house in Galé de Cima.
There are three or four nights that he doesn't have peace to rest: “One hour, one hour and then that's it, I can't sleep. Everything burning… how can a person sleep?”.
He was turning 16 when he saw the first fire there, also in August. She went through the experience twice more, but these fires she was not afraid of, because “they came from above”.
This time – the fourth for José – the impact was much greater, as evidenced by the dark gray that now covers much of the forested area in sight, right up to the road.
“The fire turned back with the wind and licked it all up”, reports Luís Silva, 51 years old, after losing his car, bales of straw, the vegetable garden and many work tools.
“Everything will have to be reset. “The money… is gone,” she adds.
Firefighters saved his house. Had it not been for his assistance, he says, the dwellings would not have escaped, since there was fire "on this side and on that." A few days ago, by chance – and, you know now, luckily – he sold the animals he had.
The mayor of the municipality of Aljezur, José Gonçalves, indicated yesterday morning that he was aware of a burnt-down house, which will be a holiday home, in the Boavista area, in Odeceixe.
Underlining that he did not yet have concrete data, the mayor said it was time to put the teams on the ground and carry out a survey of the damage, in addition to taking into account possible reactivations of the fire.
In the Alentejo municipality of Odemira, until yesterday morning, there were records of a tourist unit that burned almost entirely and of a first home destroyed, both located in Vale Juncal, in São Teotónio.
The mayor, Hélder Guerreiro, mentioned that there were other losses that needed to be identified, including in Vale de Água, where no houses were burned, but some annexes were destroyed.
“We are talking about many losses on the side of agriculture, but also many losses on the side of tourism”, he lamented.
In the Algarve municipality of Monchique, where the fire entered at the end of the day on Monday, an area of 426 hectares burned, mainly bush and eucalyptus, but also some medron forest and cork oaks.
During almost five days of fighting the flames, about five dozen people, including operational and civilians, received medical assistance, without serious situations.
The Judiciary Police suspect that the fire started in a picnic area, and are investigating whether it was caused by negligent or intentional behaviour.
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