One hundred firefighters tackled a blaze at Odiáxere, Lagos, this afternoon as high temperatures and wind triggered blazes in the western Algarve
According to the Civil Protection service’s website, a fire alert was received at 4:30pm with several teams of fire fighters immediately sent to Farta Vacas, Odiáxere.
A total of 104 personnel soon were engaged in fighting the fire that raged across dry scrub and farmland, backed by two helicopters, engaged in dumping water.
By 18:00 firefighters had received additional back-up and continued to battle the flames with 132 on-the-ground fire fighters helped by air support.
At 18:50 the Via do Infante had to be cut off, just as a precaution, which threw traffic onto an already choked EN125, bringing traffic to a hot and sticky crawl.
The Odiaxere fire now should have been declared 'extinguished' on a day that saw the west of an Algarve that remains on high fire alert, experience fires in Barão de S. João and Meia Praia, Aljezur.