Provisional data from the Institute of Nature Conservation and Forests reveal that this is the second worst year in the area of burn area since 2017.
Forest fires consumed until this Saturday 139,000 hectares, half of which in just two days, which represents 17 times more than the area burned in the same period last year, according to provisional ICNF data.
According to the information provided by, between January 1 and August 14, they had burned 74,931 hectares, a number that rose to 139,091 today.
These data reveal that in the last two days alone, they burned 64,160 hectares, 46% of the total burned since the beginning of the year.
When compared to the same period, it appears that the area burned this year is about 17 times higher than 7,949 hectares of forest that burned 1 January to 15 August 2024.
Second worst year since Pedrogão
The area burned this year is also the second largest since 2017, the year that accounted for a total of 164,249 hectares of the area burned until August 15.
The ICNF specifies that since the beginning of the year, to date, they have launched 6,229 fires, the vast majority in Matos (48%) and forest settlements (40%), and the rest on agricultural land (12%).
Compared to the same period last year, the number of fires increased by 79%.
Making the balance of the last two days, it appears that between August 14 and 16, another 231 fires were recorded, from 5,998 to 6,229.
Portugal has been in warning due to the risk of fire since August 2.
