“One of the fire fronts came very close and surrounded the entire village of Nuzedo de Baixo. As a preventive measure, the Safe Village Safe People plan was activated, which consisted of confining people to a safe place, in the centre of the village. It was a temporary situation, as a precaution. When the fire front was extinguished, people returned to their homes normally”, explained to Lusa the commander João Noel Afonso, from the Sub-Regional Command of the Lands of Trás-os-Montes.

Although the fire was brought under control overnight, all ground resources, including air resources, will remain on site to help consolidate any remaining hotspots, said Commander João Noel Afonso.

The fire started at 4:21 pm on Sunday and had three active fronts.

“The fire was characterised by an extremely violent start. It reached three fronts very early on and continued to spread throughout the day on these three fronts with great violence. The greatest difficulty was the topography. We are talking about a very mountainous area, with a lot of population, a lot of pine forests. Then, in the late afternoon, early evening, the winds that began to intensify made all the fighting actions very difficult”, explained João Noel Afonso.

Two roads were closed during the fight against the flames - the National Road (EN) 103, between Rebordelo and Vinhais, and the Municipal Road (EM) 529, between Vale das Fontes and Nuzedo de Baixo.

This morning, a source from the National Republican Guard (GNR) informed Lusa that the EN103 reopened at around 3:20 a.m. The EM 529 has been passable since 7:20 a.m.

At 8:15 a.m. today, the fire had mobilized 254 operatives and 90 vehicles, according to data from the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC).