fire2018 Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Craig Rogers Photography

The Monchique Fire Is Now A Very Serious Problem

5th August 20183rd September 2019Craig Rogers

As you may know, the fires burning in the Serra de Monchique has turned a very dark corner and is now approaching the main town of Monchique with evacuations of small areas on the outskirts of the town taking place. I know a few of you that attend my walks live in the area and my thoughts are with you and hope you come away without any major issues.

I took a quick trip up Eagle Ridge which normally has some amazing views over Serra de Monchique and the highest peak of Foia, however, as you can see it really shows just how terrible this situation is. If I’m honest, sitting up there and seeing this view almost brought a tear to my eye. If I was to guess, the ridgeline in the photo has a width of about 20kms. We can only hope the brave men and women on the front-line (and behind the scenes) can bring this monster under control before a major disaster. The lights in the foreground is my local village of São Marcos da Serra, this village is a long way from the fires and under no threat.

The Fire In Monchique Still Burns

4th August 20183rd September 2019Craig Rogers

Last night I posted a photo of the Fire in Monchique and although the latest update is that one of the 2 fronts is now under control, it still burns.

Last night, we could only see a small glow over the ridge, tonight it is a very different story. The photo looks like the fire is close, however, its not, it just because there are many mountain ridges hidden in the darkness. This line of red glow covers many kilometers of hillside.

Murphy’s Law came into play today, we had multiple Thunderstorms come through the Algarve, some with torrential rain, it seems all of them missed the area on fire!

Another Big Fire In The Monchique Mountains

3rd August 20183rd September 2019Craig Rogers

In 2016, there was a huge fire that was started deliberately on top of Foia which is the highest peak in the Algarve, part of the Monchique range. Today, the area is alight again, this time a little further north of Foia in an area called Perna Da Negra and too early to know what caused it, quite possibly the intense heat we are current getting. A local village had been evacuated due to the fire being close, however, last time I heard, the village should be in no danger. There are 2 separate active fronts to this fire and the last count was nearing 600 firefighters tackling it. Of course, at night, the air support is grounded, but earlier, there was up to 9 air support vehicles.

We could clearly see the smoke from the Quinta even though it is a very long distance away and a few Helicopters flew over en-route. Tonight, in the very distance, the sky is glowing red. I got my 500mm lens out and took this long exposure of the distant ridge. Normally we see a nice glow red at sunset over this ridge, but tonight, it’s a very different glow. Hopefully, all are safe and the fires are resolved soon. As always, a huge gratitude to the “Bombeiros” for the amazing job they do!

Sky glowing red from the fires in Perna Da Negra