These are trying days in Northern Portugal, with a declaration of a forest fire emergency sending volunteer firefighting crews and residents scrambling to get the situation under control and stay safe in the process. The conditions for a large-scale fire crisis have been building in recent weeks, with two months of very dry, hot weather — almost no rain at all.
According to Euronews:
- 500 firefighters currently deployed near Porto, tackling 35 separate fires
- 2000 personnel battling 100 fires across the north of the country
- 500 firefighters fighting two fires in Aveiro region south of Porto
- 215 firefighters, 67 vehicles, two aircraft, four active fronts – Águeda
- 154 firefighters, 52 vehicles, two aircraft – Barcelos
I can’t imagine how bad it must be for people with asthma right now. I took Ice the Dog out for his daily walk and the sky was so hazy with smoke it blocked out the sun. There is ash everywhere. We were out for more than two hours all in, and while I didn’t have trouble breathing, I was feeling unwell after we got home and it took some hours to feel myself again.
The consistently hot daily temperatures (30Cs, today being 38C) are making it worse: the air quality is terrible both outside due to the fires and inside due to the heat. There is nowhere for people with breathing issues to go except air conditioned shopping malls and offices. Houses in Portugal are optimized for dealing with heat (which is why they’re not good with cold in the winter), but not heat like this. Very few people have air conditioning at home, it’s expensive to buy and operate (and not good for the environment, I might add). They just tough it out until the temperatures return to normal, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen for some time yet — my local forecast shows the 30s (C) for the next week.
Of course, I’m speaking about people who aren’t in the path of the fires — obviously, the biggest crisis is with people who are in danger of losing their lives, homes, animals, and livelihoods. The danger is also for the firefighters, and in Portugal many of these people are volunteers putting their lives at risk, and fundraising all year to operate.
The state of emergency is forecasted to last until Wednesday. Meanwhile, Ice and I will stay indoors during the hottest times of the day, when the air quality is the worst.
Photo: Praia do Bairro Piscatório (Espinho, Portugal) – July 16 (Album: Summer 2016)