Last updated on May 4, 2018
Unlike other wildfire prone countries like Australia and the US, Portugal currently has no community early warning systems, so we must rely on other wildfire information sources. Understanding the Fire Risk categories and what they mean to you will help you to make decisions about what to do if a wildfire starts – such as evacuating early. When the rating is high, the threat of a wildfire increases.
Also if you are thinking of making a bonfire or doing anything else that involves fire outside such as barbecues, bee-smoking or sky lanterns etc, you can check the fire risk for your area and the fire use restrictions for each risk category.
- Fire Danger Level for your area can be checked on INCF – Institute For Nature Conservation And Forestry or IMPA – Portuguese Institute Of The Sea And Atmosphere or while you’re here, click on the widget below. Pick your district and county for today’s fire risk and click on the ‘RIF para 3 dias’ button for a 3 day forecast. Click on the ‘Registe-se’ button to set up email notifications of the fire risk in your area and forecasts for the next 2 days.
- Fogos.pt – this excellent website is essentially a Google map of Portugal with all the current fires marked, in real time. The red markers indicate an active fire, the other colours indicate various states of alert, resolved and concluded fires. Use the zoom function to get more accurate positioning of the red marker. Click the red marker to see the exact fire location, the number of fire-fighting personnel and equipment in use and the type of vegetation involved.
- ANPC – Autoridade Nacional de Proteção Civil provides information on all ongoing emergency occurrences in Portugal with a map. For wildfires, go to the red box, top right, ‘Todas as Ocorrências and click ‘Incêndios Rurais’ in the drop down menu.
- European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) which monitors any current and recent fire situations in Europe.
- For Central Portugal, there is also the Facebook Group Central Portugal Fire Watch ~ Incidentes de fogo Central Portugal where members report news, fire alerts and locations of fires. Also during or after a wildfire, it is also a good place to let people know you are safe or ask about anybody who maybe missing.
Please let us know if there are similar community fire watch Facebook or social media groups for other areas of Portugal that we may add here.
