The fire caused the entire building to be evacuated and 15 people required medical care.
According to rescue services, the alarm was raised at 2am Tuesday morning. The fire broke out in a shopping centre located on the ground floor of a 12-storey building in the centre of the city. Due to extensive smoke coming from an electrical store, the entire building was evacuated, but the fire was extinguished minutes later.
The fire is beleved to have broken out in the old CediPraia building, on the 25 de Abril Avenue, one of Portimão’s most populous and busy main thoroughfares.
At the scene were 74 firefighters, civil protection authorities, PSP police officers and INEM paramedics, and 24 vehicles.