One third of the EU area affected by wildfires belongs to Portugal
By July 25, 122,220 hectares of forest land burned down to ashes in Portugal, seven times more area than the past eight years' average. One third of the EU's burned area belongs to Portugal.
According to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), since Sunday, forest fires in the Portuguese districts of Castelo Branco, Santarém and Portalegre have consumed almost 30 thousand hectares of land.
Through a satellite images, EFFIS accounts for the burned area in the EU: between January 1st and July 25th, 122,220 hectares of forest in Portugal burned down to ashes, seven times more than the average of the past eight years in the same time frame.
This system from the European Commission’s Joint Research Center, which presents satellite images from the burned areas, also shows that a third of the burned area in the EU happened in Portugal. Data concerns images up to the past Wednesday.
According to EFFIS, the Sertã fire which began this Sunday and spread to its neighbor districts Proença-a-Nova and Mação, affecting the Castelo Branco and Santarém districts, has consumed 25,388 hectares. The fire has been controlled this Thursday morning.
The estimate is that based on the images is that 2,782 hectares of burned area in the Vila Velha do Rodão fire, also in the Castelo Branco district, and 1,158 hectares of fire concern Alto Alentejo, Gavião. Nisa’s burned area hasn’t been accounted for yet. The fires in the Portalegre district are still active.
