“The fire continues, it cannot be said that the situation has been resolved. It has been one of the fires that has hit our municipality the hardest since anyone can remember,” the mayor told Lusa news agency, before highlighting: “I cannot consider that the fires are under control, as they will reignite at any moment, hence the activation of the Municipal Emergency Plan.”

According to Emanuel Câmara, the flames were fought throughout the night, after having spread during Thursday afternoon throughout the upper part of the municipality, where the fire surrounded the parish of Achadas da Cruz, moving to the dos Lamaceiros and Santa and to the hillside overlooking the village of Porto Moniz.

The nursing home located in Lamaceiros was closed and 40 people were transferred to facilities in the neighbouring municipality of São Vicente.

“The first concern was people and then property”, said the Mayor, explaining that the most serious situation was that of a lady, in Achadas da Cruz, who suffered some burns.

Several people stayed the night, as a precaution, at the Porto Moniz secondary school and in the parish hall of the local church, including a group of primary school students, prevented from returning home to the highlands.

The councils of Porto Moniz (north coast) and Calheta (west zone) activated their respective municipal emergency and civil protection plans, following the fires raging in those municipalities.

The fire initially broke out on Wednesday, around 6:00 pm, in the parish of Prazeres, municipality of Calheta, and spread during the night to the adjacent parish of Fajã da Ovelha and, later, to the parishes of Ponta do Pargo and Achadas da Cruz, and is already in the municipality of Porto Moniz.

The Government of Madeira declared on Thursday the contingency situation due to the fires raging in the region, thus activating the Regional Civil Protection Emergency Plan, announced the Regional Civil Protection Service (ANEPC).

This morning, a contingent from the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority left for Madeira, headed by the sub-regional commander of Emergency and Civil Protection of Coimbra, Carlos Tavares, comprising 64 Operational Personnel, including 54 Firefighters from the Special Civil Protection Force, six elements of the ANEPC Command structure and four elements of the National Institute of Medical Emergency.