Monchique fire – EDP denies electricity cable started blaze

The Monchique fire in 2018 most likely was caused by an electrity line touching and setting fire to a eucalyptus tree.

The Independent Technical Observatory, created by parliament to monitor forest fires, points to, “a specific place the fire started and this being caused by an electric line, which EDP refutes.”

In the report on the 2018 fire, the experts complain that, after nine months of fire, the cause is, “still being investigated.”

“There are initial photographs in which flames are visible near the electricity line which may have been the origin of the fire because there are trees in the place – essentially eucalyptus – with sufficient height to be able to come into contact with the cables, although the version from EDP does not point in this direction,” states the report.

The findings show that, “despite indications that the cause of the fire may have originated in the medium-voltage line running through the fire site, there is no official information on the more detailed investigation to confirm this hypothesis.”

In this sense, the experts express concern about the fires that arise from contact with the electricity grid.

The report also draws attention to “the lack of effectiveness in investigating the causes of fire,” and considers, “at the very least strange that there is still no known cause for a fire with such consequences.”

The Independent Technical Observatory recommends “an improvement in the service of investigation of causes particularly in large fires.”

The fire of Monchique was active between 03 and 10 of August of 2018 in Monchique and consumed more than 27,000 hectares.