At least three people are dead, others injured and a thousand evacuated from homes, hospitals and hotels as wildfires burned for two days on the island of Madeira, spreading last night to the capital Funchal.
One woman died when her home caught fire near the centre of the city and others have been seriously hurt with at least 37 homes and the Choupana Hills luxury hotel destroyed.
Smoke fanned by strong winds continues to disrupt flights at Funchal airport with many flights cancelled. Firefighters said the steep hills and dense woodland made it difficult to tackle the flames and the fire spread last night into the city.
The President of the autonomous Portuguese region, Miguel Albuquerque, said cooler temperatures forecast for Wednesday should ease the situation but 1,000 tourists and residents are displaced from their homes and hotels, 600 of whom are being looked after at a Regimental Garrison.
The mayor of Funchal said last night’s priority was to remove all the people from threatened areas of the city, "It is better to remove people with the help of PSP for this area to be safe. We want to save human lives first."
The mayor confirmed that the Choupana Hills Hotel, a luxury hotel complex five-star hotel located in Santa Maria, "was completely consumed by the flames," but that all guests had safely been evacuated.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs said it will provide 80 more firefighters to the 35 sent last night from the mainland to add to the support sent from the Açores which has supplied 20 firefighters.
The strong wind and high temperatures caused the fire raging in the hills above Funchal on Monday afternoon to descend on the center of the city, causing chaos and panic among the population.
The Public Security Police closed all road access to the city and the boom of exploding gas cylinders did little to calm nerves as the fire raged into the night despite assurances at 16:00 from the regional president that all was under control.
Miguel Albuquerque said the fire had been started deliberately and the police yesterday arrested a suspect who has a criminal record for arson.
In response to criticism that firefighting services were undermanned and poorly led, Miguel Albuquerque said that, "people have the right to their criticism, but firefighters here Madeira are qualified, they know what they are doing, have technical competence and people can be sure that everything is being done to fight the fires," adding that it is "impossible to attack the fire on all fronts and therefore in some areas we let the fire continue in overgrown areas, because it is not essential to stop it. The key is to protect the lives of people."
