According to IPMA, nearly 50 municipalities in the districts of Bragança, Vila Real, Viseu, Guarda, Castelo Branco, Portalegre, Santarém and Faro are at maximum risk of fire.
The IPMA also placed more than 60 municipalities at very high risk of fire and more than 80 municipalities at high risk.
This fire risk determined by IPMA has five levels, ranging from reduced to maximum.
Calculations are obtained from air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and amount of precipitation in the last 24 hours.
The critical period of fires lasts until the end of September and, until then, it is prohibited to make extensive fires or burning without authorization, to use stoves or grills throughout the countryside, and to smoke or make any kind of fire in the forest areas.
It is also prohibited to launch rockets or to carry out work in the forest that could cause sparks.
For today, the IPMA predicts cloudy or clear and cloudy morning skies on the west coast, which may persist at some points along the coastal strip. The wind sometimes blows strong in the highlands and the western coastal strip south of Cabo Raso.
The maximum temperatures will vary today between 20º (Viana do Castelo) and 36º (Castelo Branco) and the minimum between 15º (Viana do Castelo and Leiria) and 19º (Faro).
I am a bit confused. The headline says '50 counties at maximum risk of fire', but then the article is refers to 'around 50 municipalities in the interior of the North and Centre and in the Algarve are at maximum risk of fire, according to the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA).'
Please, could you rectify this error. Thank you.
By Catarina Dias Raimundo from UK on 20 Jul 2021, 05:52