Major fire at Lisbon Airport engulfs parking garage, 200 cars burned
17 August 2024 07:24
On Friday evening, a fire broke out near Humberto Delgado Airport in Lisbon. The blaze destroyed a multi-level parking garage containing hundreds of cars and a warehouse.
Portuguese civil defence commander Hugo Santos reported the scale of the damage. According to him, over 200 cars burned down. Santos clarified that most of these vehicles belonged to passengers using the airport.
Fire in Lisbon. Firefighters fought the blaze for many hours
Firefighters battled the blaze for many hours and reported just after midnight on Saturday that they had managed to control the situation. However, their efforts were hampered for several hours by numerous car fuel explosions. An additional challenge was the high air temperature in the parking area.
Commander Santos had earlier predicted that the fire would be entirely extinguished by Saturday morning. He also noted that shortly before midnight, the capital's police began an investigation to determine its cause.
According to preliminary findings by public television RTP, citing witness accounts, the fire started in one of the electric cars and quickly spread to nearby vehicles.
On Friday, firefighters in Portugal had to contend with several large forest and agricultural land fires. Their efforts were hindered by the heatwave affecting the country, with temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius.
One of the largest fires firefighters have had to deal with is the one ravaging forests on the Atlantic island of Madeira since Wednesday. On Friday evening, the evacuation of homes was ordered as the fire approached the town of Curral das Freiras.
