PEDROGAO GRANDE, Portugal — More than 1,000 ************ were still battling Portugal’s deadliest forest ***** on Monday after it ****** at least 62 people over the weekend.
Prime Minister Antonio *****, who on Sunday visited Pedrogao Grande, a mountainous area about 200 kilometers (125 miles) northeast of Lisbon, called it the biggest human tragedy in Portugal in living memory.
Welcome light rain that started on Monday morning brought only modest relief to the shocked population and exhausted ************. Water planes, including French and Spanish ones, resumed their missions after stopping overnight.
Aerial view of a forest **** is seen from the cabin of a Spanish **** fighting plane near Pedrogao Grande, Portugal, June 18, 2017. (Spanish Defence Ministry-Spanish Air Force/Handout via REUTERS)
“There is still a lot of forest that can burn and the rain does not make much difference,” said Rui Barreto, deputy chief firefighter at the makeshift ********* services headquarters in Pedrogao Grande as thunder rolled through the skies over the ash-covered town.
************ said the weather conditions were still adverse in most areas where the flames were raging. Two army battalions were helping the ********* services.
Dozens of **** engines drove back and forth to fight the raging ***** in areas as far as 20km north of Pedrogao Grande. In a sign of help Portugal is receiving from its European neighbors, four Spanish **** engines were seen driving off from the headquarters.
At least half the ******* **** in their cars as they tried to flee along a local motorway while many other bodies were found next to the road, suggesting they had probably abandoned their vehicles in panic.
Red Cross and other relief personnel are seen outside a relief centre for people affected by a forest **** in Figueiro dos Vinhos, Portugal, June 19, 2017. (REUTERS/Miguel Vidal)
GOVERNMENT ASSURANCES
Despite government assurances that the first response by the ********* services was swift and adequate, many media and residents questioned the efficiency of the operation and the strategic planning in a country which is used to wooded areas burning every year.
“So what failed this Saturday? Everything, as it has failed for decades,” read a headline in the daily Publico, which blamed a lack of coordination between services in charge of **** prevention and firefighting and poor forestry reserve planning.
****** said a lightning ****** on a tree probably caused the ***** on Saturday in a region hit by an intense heat wave and dry, gusty winds, which fanned the flames.
The regional prosecutor still ordered a criminal ************* into the causes, which he said would be shelved if the ****** version of events is confirmed. Many forest fires in Portugal are caused by arson or carelessness.
A public petition circulating on the Internet demanding an ************* into possible failures by the authorities has gathered about 270 signatures.
Local residents said they had been without the support of ************ for hours as their homes burned. Many blamed depopulation of villages that left wooded areas untended.