São Teotónio continues «to burn with intensity» and, despite the fact that the front that was heading towards the Algarve region was dominated in the first phase of the day, «the fire has evolved to the south and has already been close to passing to the Algarve», he told the Sul Informação Hélder Guerreiro, mayor of Odemira.
«It is not very windy, but it is very hot, which allows for large columns of smoke that end up causing large projections, at long distances, which have made combat very difficult», explained the mayor, reinforcing that work is being done to combat the fire, «but there is no forecast that it will be controlled in the next few hours».
Speaking to our newspaper, Hélder Guerreiro says that for the next few hours the main concern is «to reduce the intensity of the fire, with the help of air resources, so that later, during the night, land resources can try to control it».
«The biggest risk we are now running is that of the fire, which has been out of control for most of the afternoon, being able to enter more difficult areas and with more weeds, whether to the south, towards Monchique, or to the east, still in the municipality of Odemira, but which later takes over with the municipality of Silves», he added.
People are still unable to return to four locations that were evacuated this afternoon, "For precaution". «This will only happen when things calm down in that sector. For now, people are safe and that is what matters», said the mayor.
The fire of São Teotónio started this Saturday, August 5th, at 14:49 pm. There are currently 485 operational personnel at the site, supported by 166 land assets and 10 air assets.
The Chamber of Odemira determined the activation of the Municipal Emergency and Civil Protection Plan, with effect at 14:30 pm today.
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