‘In view of the operational situation and the lack of improvement in the meteorological situation, the government is extending the declaration of an alert situation until 11.59pm on the 19th, i.e. Thursday,’ said André Fernandes, national commander of the ANEPC.
On Sunday, the government declared an alert situation until 11.59pm on Tuesday, due to the increased risk of rural fires.
The declaration of an alert situation stems from the raising of the special alert status of the Integrated Protection and Relief Operations System (SIOPS) and the need to adopt preventive and special reaction measures in the face of the maximum, very high and high fire risk forecast by the Portuguese Institute for the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) in a large part of mainland Portugal.
The alert situation implies a number of exceptional measures, such as a ban on access and movement in various forest areas or a ban on burning and working in forests using machinery (with the exception of rural firefighting situations).
André Fernandes stressed that ‘the meteorological situation is very difficult and very conducive to any situation immediately taking on a large scale’, but said that Civil Protection expected the situation to ‘stabilise over the course of the morning’, particularly with regard to the three fires that broke out in the municipalities of Sever do Vouga, Albergaria-a-Velha and Oliveira de Azeméis, also affecting the municipalities of Vale de Cambra, Águeda and Aveiro.