Over 90 firefighters began battling a wildfire that began near Bensafrim, north of Lagos, just after 11am this morning.
The smoke was quickly seen the length of the coastline, and from municipalities in the interior.
Shortly afterwards another fire was reported near Vila do Bispo/ Raposeira, but that seems already to have been tackled.
The Bensafrim blaze, near the hamlet of Feiteira, currently has seven firefighting planes dousing the area as close to 170 firefighters are now on the ground, backed by 56 appliances.
In terms of the smoke that can be seen from the north, it already looks ‘less ferocious’. But reports coming in say wind is hampering combat.
This is a day when most of the Algarve is on ‘high risk’ for wildfires.
Updates to keep coming… but anyone keen to follow progress in real time can find regular postings in English on the ‘Associação Alerta de Incendio Florestal/ Forest Fire Alert Facebook page’.
UPDATE 16.44: smoke as seen from Aljezur (image above) has reduced significantly. Footage on Facebook of planes scooping up water from nearby Barragem da Bravura shows how critically low the water levels there are (click here).
17.49: smoke as seen from Aljezur ‘gone’, but reports register ‘no change’: air support now up to eight, with 179 firefighters and 60 appliances on the ground.
