Extreme heat puts 19 Portuguese municipalities at maximum wildfire risk

Nineteen municipalities in five districts of mainland Portugal faced the country’s maximum rural wildfire-risk level on Monday, according to the latest update from the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere, or IPMA.

The highest-risk areas include four municipalities in Bragança district: Bragança, Vimioso, Miranda do Douro and Mogadouro. The list also includes Figueiró dos Vinhos in Leiria; Tomar, Sardoal and Mação in Santarém; and six municipalities in Portalegre district: Nisa, Gavião, Castelo de Vide, Portalegre, Marvão and another listed area. In the Algarve, the affected municipalities are Monchique, Portimão, Silves, Loulé, São Brás de Alportel and Tavira.

More than 80 municipalities across 13 other districts were classified at “very high” risk, the second-most severe level on the IPMA’s five-point scale. The agency said the risk would remain very high in some parts of the country at least through Tuesday.

The fire-risk classification considers factors including temperature, humidity, wind speed and rainfall accumulated during the previous 24 hours. Restrictions on fires and certain agricultural and forestry machinery apply in areas rated very high or maximum, with some exceptions for work carried out between sunset and 11 a.m. local time.

Beja, Castelo Branco, Évora, Faro, Lisbon, Portalegre and Setúbal remained under yellow warnings for high maximum temperatures. Forecast highs ranged from 25°C in Aveiro, Porto and Viana do Castelo to 39°C in Évora. The heat episode follows exceptionally high temperatures at the start of September. The IPMA said the mainland’s average temperature reached 27.61°C on Sept. 3, making it the fourth-hottest September day recorded since 1941.