The whole of the inner Algarve is alight and out of control! There are not enough firefighters to go round.

I am sitting in Carvoeiro and the whole place smells of smoke, it is so bad that it makes your eyes smart. It seems that most if not all of the fires have been started deliberately - what sort of lunatic does that and puts the lives of animals and humans at risk? Crazy stuff!

As typed on the other topics as appropriate.

This is awful news and deadly serious, I do hope that the fires can be bought under control before there is any serious loss of life. If it is true that they have been set by arsonists, I struggle to understand what sort of low life can do such a thing. Even without human loss of life, much of nature will be destroyed and many firefighters will be putting their lives at risk as I type, I hope that their god is with them tonight.

Maddi

Biffa - This is very sad news indeed and cannot begin to imagine the state of the minds of irresponsible people who act in this way. Has the fire reached any of the coastal towns?

Let us hope that the fire is brought under control and those responsible found and dealt with accordingly.

Just a quick note to say, that the fire is affecting communications in the Algarve.

E-mails sent to Algarve companys on fibre-optic networks (nevisao. cabovisao, etc) may be delayed. Cabovisao informed us, that the fires have damaged their fibre-optic infra-structure.
In our case we get the e-mails during a couple of minutes per day, but are unable to respond. I recommend you dust off your old fax machines if you need to get in touch urgently.

Phones/mobiles seem to be working fine up to now.

Hi I am coming to Carvoeiro on the 23rd of August. Will we encounter any problems?

Eddie

I don't think you will have problems. The fires are of course some way north of us here in CVO, between Silves and São Marcos. The smoke hangs in the air this morning and ash is sprinkled over garden furniture etc. It is a very "grey" start to the day.

I hope that they can begin to get these under control today

OK, so I am no sports fanatic, but somebody please explain to me how you can go jogging through thick smoke at 8 in the morning

Driving into town I came past 6 people who looked like they were about to faint at any second...

We are arriving on Saturday 16th August. We were wondering if anyone can update us on fire situation. Hope everyone out there is OK.

Thanks for any help.

we are going out on sunday 17th....any reason to panick yet??

I've just spoken to our villa management agent, Chico on ADM and he said that outside of an air conditioned envoironment, you should be wearing masks. It's pretty bad, just look at the web cam. Looks awful. Mike, Chislehurst

If you have respiratory problems, a mask is advisable to avoid unpleasant surprises.

Otherwise, I have not seen anybody pass out on the street yet.

Breif current status according to Agencia Lusa (RTP):

The district of Faro has been declared in state of emergency.
Aljezur has fires to the north and the south, one firefighter injured.
Aircrafts are having difficulties if fighting the flames around Silves due to the excessive smoke and heat that is remaining close to the ground.

At the moment, the fire is affecting large parts of the mountains in the western Algarve from Silves, Monchique north of Lagos to Aljezur.
Motorways and access roads to the coastline are open.

The lower regions of the Algarve are not in acute danger, as there is no dense forrest the fire can eat through.

P.S. Although the smoke has reached Faro, Agencia Lusa has received confirmation from the ANA (National Airport Association), that air traffic will continue to function normally at Faro airport for the time being.

Thank you for the updates. Hope they keep the airport open

Gambrinus, thanks for that and lets hope they can get this under control sooner rather than later without any more loss of life. I'm told that the weather conditions tomorrow are more favorable from a smoke point of view but not necessarily the fire. Is this correct, in any case good luck!

Looks to have improved a bit on the web cam, is this the case. Mike Chislehurst.