The European Commission said today that it is “closely monitoring” the forest fire in Oleiros, Castelo Branco district, having already allocated satellite support to fight the fire, at the request of Portugal, providing more assistance if needed.

“We are closely monitoring forest fires in the municipality of Oleiros, in Portugal. The Copernicus Emergency Management Service has been called upon to support national civil protection authorities ”, informed the European commissioner with this responsibility, Janez Lenarčič, in a publication on the social network Twitter.

According to the person in charge of the Crisis Management area, “the European Union is available to provide more assistance” to Portugal, if necessary.

“Our thoughts are with everyone affected,” concluded the European commissioner in the publication.

According to the request, consulted by the Lusa agency, Copernicus was activated at 09:30 (local time) today, after an order made by Portugal.

At stake is the use of satellite maps produced by the Emergency Management Service Copernicus to facilitate the fight against forest fire, with this European system providing more accurate geospatial information to support the National Civil Protection Authority.

The fire that broke out on Saturday in Oleiros and spread to the neighboring municipalities of Sertã and Proença-a-Nova, in the Castelo Branco district, is currently being fought by more than 700 operatives, supported by 14 aerial means and eight tracking machines, informed the Minister of Internal Administration, Eduardo Cabrita.

Also today, the governor ensured “all efforts” in the fire that plows in Oleiros, Sertã and Proença-a-Nova, Castelo Branco district, with priority in protecting the populations, admitting that the mobilization of the device until Tuesday or Wednesday .