70 firefighters on the ground await Canadair’s entry into action

The fire raging in Madeira remained active this morning in the island’s central mountain range, while in the municipality of Ponta do Sol there was an improvement in one of the flanks of the fire, a source from civil protection told Lusa.

“Starting in the southern part in the Ponta do Sol area, because the news is good, that front has two flanks, the western flank is circumscribed, but we keep 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 like on Thursday, without major developments and in a moderate way.

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

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

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

During the afternoon of Thursday, the two Canadair planes, requested by the Portuguese Government from the European Union, have already dropped fires on the fires burning in Madeira, complementing the action of the SRPC helicopter, the only aerial resource available to the Madeira archipelago.

These two aircraft, made available under the activation of the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism, arrived on the island of Porto Santo on Thursday, where they refueled, and then moved to the island of Madeira to fight the flames.

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

“It went from the east to the north, but the north is already a little bit entering the laurissilva [forest] and has a much slower progression due to the type of vegetation and we hope to have more success in the north,” he said.

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