Extraordinary footageFire tornado rips through Portuguese national park

RTL Today
Portuguese firefighters filmed a rare fire tornado that formed during a forest fire in the Alvao Natural Park.
Fire tornado in Portugal
Les pompiers portugais ont filmé une rare tornade de feu qui s’est formée lors d’un incendie qui fait rage lundi 22 août dans le parc naturel d’Alvao.

The fire, which burnt over 4,500 hectares, was brought under control on Wednesday, 24 August.

Fire tornadoes form when hot air meets turbulent winds.

In recent months, massive fires have ripped through the Iberian peninsula, affecting Portugal and Spain.

Already this year, over 104,000 hectares of forest have been affected in Portugal alone, which has been suffering from an exceptional drought. This is the largest area since the deadly fires of 2017, which ravaged 537,000 hectares of forest and led to over a hundred deaths.

While this year the fires have been more contained than 2017, they remain significantly above the ten year average, with 30% more area affected than on average.

The Serra de Estrela forest fire, which was contained last week, consumed more than 25,000 hectares of vegetation in eleven days. Over 1,000 firefighters were deployed to tackle it.

Due to a recent drop in temperature, the Portuguese government has suspended the state of alert, which was in force until Tuesday evening, providing the authorities with increased powers to tackle the fire risk.

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