“Starting in the southern part in the Ponta do Sol area, because the news is good, that front that has two flanks, the western flank is circumscribed, but we are keeping personnel on site because there have already been several rekindles”, the president of the Regional Civil Protection Service (SRPC) told Lusa.

According to António Nunes, one of the flanks is still active, more or less as it was on Thursday, without major developments and in a moderate manner.

“We are there with our personnel to maintain surveillance. These are all areas where it is not possible to intervene, very steep areas where personnel cannot intervene”, he said.

Regarding the central mountain range of the island, António Nunes indicated that the action on Thursday of the two Canadair aircraft together with the helicopter apparently helped to contain the fire’s development.

“This fire was beginning to descend towards Fajã da Nogueira. However, north of Caldeirão Verde, Santana, there is an active fire and it is in these areas from 08:30, when the Canadairs can take off, that we will focus our action to see what they can do”, he said.

According to António Nunes, the news is good in Ponta do Sol, but in Pico Ruivo and Pico do Gato there seems to have been a shift from one place to the other.

“It went from the eastern area to the northern area, but the northern area is already a little bit into the laurissilva [forest] and its progress is much slower due to the type of vegetation, and we hope to have more success in the northern area”, he stated.

The president of the Regional Civil Protection Service also said that at 7:30 am there were around 60 to 70 personnel on the ground, divided between the two fronts.

The rural fire on the island of Madeira broke out on August 14th in the mountains of the municipality of Ribeira Brava, gradually spreading to the municipalities of Câmara de Lobos, Ponta do Sol and, via Pico Ruivo, Santana.

Data from the European Forest Fire Information System indicates that more than 5,002 hectares of area have been burned.

The Judicial Police are investigating the causes of the fire, but the president of the Madeiran executive, Miguel Albuquerque, said it was arson.