After what has been an horrific week of fires, the latest update is that although still active, there are no fronts. Finally the monster has been slayed! Of course, there could still be re-ignitions, but for now, the area is a little more calmer and we are due a humid night which will help.
Just look at this fire map which shows the entire area burnt over the last 7 days. The last figure I read was 23,000 hectares and this was a couple of days ago so is likely much larger now. To put it into perspective, Cardiff (the entire city, not just the centre) is just over 13,000 hectares! Whilst we were safe in the São Marcos da Serra area during the whole ordeal, I can’t help but think “what if the wind changed to a South-westerly?”……….?
In the next few days I will be going out to photograph and video some of the devastation left behind in the rural areas.
The fire map came from the Copernicus Emergency Management System