Fires in Portugal have already caused nearly 26,000 hectares of burnt area in 2021, according to provisional data available on the website of the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF), which reveals an increase of more than 60% in two weeks.
In total, 6,620 rural fires have been recorded to date this year, resulting in 25,867 hectares of burnt area, mostly in scrubland (72%), but also in forests (21%) and on agricultural land (7%).
The data available on the ICNF website, referring to the period between January 1st and August 30th, is provisional, but reveals that in just two weeks the burnt area has more than doubled, increasing 62.5% since August 15th.
According to the fourth provisional reports of rural fires of 2021, released today by the ICNF, to date 5,658 rural fires had caused 16,179 hectares of burnt area (65% in scrubland, 25% in forests and 10% on agricultural land).
"The year 2021 presents, until August 15th, the lowest value in number of fires and the second lowest value of burned area, since 2011," the document says, stating that 47% fewer rural fires were recorded and 75% less land was burnt than in 2011.
However, these figures do not yet include the fire that started in Castro Marim on August 16th, or the rural fire that broke out two days later in Odemira, burning hectares of land.
The most recent ICNF report indicates that about 25% of the fires recorded up to August 15th occurred during the month of July, but it was in March that the incidents caused a larger fire area (6,711 hectares, which corresponds to 41% of the total burnt area this year).
The majority of rural fires (81%) had occurred with less than one hectare of burnt area, with 26 major fires recorded so far, resulting in more than 100 hectares of burnt area.
By district, Porto (865), Aveiro (493) and Braga (468) stand out with the highest number of fires. Regarding burnt area, the most affected were Vila Real (3,627 hectares, about 22% of the total burnt area), Faro (2,305 hectares, 14%) and Braga (1,877 hectares, 12%).
"Of the total of 5,658 rural fires verified in the year 2021, 4,238 were investigated (75% of the total number of fires - responsible for 91% of the total area burnt)", adds the report.
The most common causes were the negligent use of fire (57%) and arson (17%), especially for the burning of forest or agricultural waste (13%) and the burning of pasture for cattle (17%).
