Twenty years after the largest fire recorded in the district of Évora, the flames returned to Serra d'Ossa, the extensive forested area known as the "lung of the Alentejo" that connects the municipalities of Estremoz, Redondo, Borba, and Vila Viçosa. The fire, which ignited during Saturday night, was brought under control in the early morning hours and reported as contained by Sunday morning, September 6, entering a resolution phase. More than 280 personnel and around a hundred ground vehicles were mobilized, including firefighters from various Alentejo corporations, the GNR (National Republican Guard), and the Special Civil Protection Force, as well as reinforcements from the districts of Lisbon and Castelo Branco.
The fire developed three active fronts, fueled by scrubland and pine vegetation, and its progression was halted before reaching catastrophic dimensions. Teams remain on the ground dedicated to mop-up and surveillance work, given the high temperatures and the risk of reignitions.
In August 2006, a fire started at 11:05 AM on the 7th, in a eucalyptus plantation in the Vale do Infante area, in the municipality of Estremoz, and advanced through the mountain range affecting areas of the municipalities of Estremoz, Redondo, Borba, and Alandroal. Over several days, the fire threatened villages, forced the evacuation of residents from isolated homesteads, and approached Aldeia da Serra and the Convent of São Paulo. The final toll revealed 4,779 hectares of forest consumed, two uninhabited homesteads destroyed, and seven firefighters injured. More than half of the destroyed area belonged to the Portucel Soporcel Group.
After two decades of slow landscape recovery, the return of fire brings back memories that the Alentejo has not forgotten. With the fire now contained, the time begins to watch, assess the damage, and care for what remains wounded in this mountain range that is forest, biodiversity, memory, and identity for the populations of the region.
