The July fires
By Paulo Áureo
On the afternoon of 18 July 2012 a fire started near Palheiro Ferreiro, on the hills east of Funchal. With wind and dry weather behind it, it spread overnight, and people in Pinheira, Neves and Cancela were evacuated. At the other end of the island a second fire swept through Ponta do Pargo and the farming villages of Fajã da Ovelha, burning pastures, crops and animals.
Over the next days the flames moved along the south coast to Camacha and Caniço, and reached Calheta and Porto Moniz too. By the morning of 19 July at least a hundred people had lost their homes for the night or longer. The Air Force flew in a C-130 with 83 people to help the island’s firefighters, who were called inexcedíveis, beyond praise, and rightly so.
It would not be the last summer like this. Before a summer walk, check the weather warnings: in heat and high fire risk, forest areas and trails can close.
Sources: DNoticias, nine years since the 2012 fires, NASA Earth Observatory, Madeira wildfires