Heat and wildfires in Portugal: what to expect and what to do

Two different warnings, and you must not mix them up

In summer, two warnings are in force in Portugal at the same time, and they are about different things.

The first is the weather warning (aviso meteorológico). It is issued by IPMA — the state institute for the sea and the atmosphere — by district, 72 hours ahead, and it colours each district green, yellow, orange or red. Warnings are issued for eight things: wind, rain, snow, thunderstorms, fog, sea conditions, cold and heat. This is about what the weather will be like.

The second is the wildfire danger (perigo de incêndio rural). It is calculated by IPMA and ICNF — the institute for nature conservation and forests — together, every day, and not by district but for each of the 278 mainland municipalities separately. This is about what is banned today.

The difference matters. A yellow heat warning bans nothing — it advises you to drink water and stay indoors during the day. But a ‘very high’ or ‘maximum’ danger class in your municipality triggers, on its own, bans that carry fines. And it can be the other way round: a district is green for weather, while half its municipalities are red for fire.

“all weather warnings can be checked on the ipma website [link]”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

chatleiria01.02.2026

Yellow, orange and red for heat: what lies behind them

The colour does not just mean ‘hot’ and ‘very hot’; it has a precise meaning, and IPMA publishes it.

Green — no dangerous weather expected. Yellow — dangerous for certain weather-dependent activities: keep an eye on the forecast. Orange — moderate to high risk: stay informed and follow the instructions of ANEPC, the national emergency and civil protection authority. Red — extreme risk.

For heat, the colour is not set on the strength of a single hot day: a warning is issued when the temperature stays at its threshold for at least 48 hours. And each district has its own thresholds — what counts as an ordinary summer in Santarém is already red level in Guarda. Yellow starts at 38 °C in Santarém, at 37 °C in Évora, Beja and Castelo Branco, at 35 °C in Setúbal and Coimbra, at 34 °C in Lisbon, at 33 °C in Faro and at just 31 °C in Guarda, Leiria and Aveiro. Red is above 43 °C in Santarém, Évora and Beja, above 42 °C in Setúbal, above 40 °C in Lisbon and Coimbra, and above 36 °C in Guarda.

The practical conclusion is simple: compare not with where you used to live but with your own district. Thirty-four degrees in Lisbon is already officially dangerous weather, while the same thirty-four in Santarém means nothing.

Fire danger is calculated every day for your municipality

There are five classes: ‘reduced’, ‘moderate’, ‘high’, ‘very high’ and ‘maximum’ danger. They are set out in Article 43 of the wildfire law (Decreto-Lei n.º 82/2021), recalculated every day and published nine days ahead as a map on the IPMA website: hover over your municipality and check the colour.

Everything that is banned in summer kicks in at the two top levels — ‘very high’ and ‘maximum’. Below them the rules are softer, but they do not disappear.

Separately, the government can declare a ‘state of alert’ (situação de alerta) — for the whole country or for several districts. Its restrictions then override the usual ones, whatever the class: in summer 2026 such an alert was declared for the whole of mainland Portugal from 3 to 6 July, and then extended in ten districts until 9 July. There is also the national coordination centre, CCON — it may impose the same bans regardless of the class if it sees a threat.

What is no longer in the law: a ‘critical period’ with fixed dates, which people still write about online. It was in the old Decreto-Lei n.º 124/2006, which has been repealed in full. Go by today's class, not by the calendar. And fires do not only happen in summer: the country has fires in February too.

“Even the wind turbines have turned black. The last two photos show smoke from yet another fire that started that same morning at the foot of Serra da Estrela”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

autolife_pt14.02.2026

What is banned on ‘very high’ and ‘maximum’ danger days

The list is short, and it applies to ordinary people, not just forest owners:

— a campfire for leisure, a picnic or a celebration — not allowed anywhere; — you may cook over a fire only where a place has been set up for it: a leisure park with barbecues, a picnic area; — setting off rockets and sky lanterns with a lit wick — not allowed; — smoking and lighting any fire in the countryside and on the roads that cross it — not allowed. Yes, a cigarette end thrown from a car window on a road through a forest is an offence; — using a petrol strimmer, brush cutter, chainsaw or angle grinder in the countryside and around buildings — not allowed; nor any engine that gives off sparks without a spark arrester; — farm machinery with metal parts that touch the ground is banned from 11 am until sunset; — in areas classed as APPS (priority prevention and safety areas), mass events in forests, forest leisure areas, walking and driving through public forests, and drone and paraglider flights are all banned. This does not apply to residents or to people who work there.

Checks are carried out by the GNR, the PSP, the maritime police, ICNF, the municipal police and the câmara (town council) itself; the report is drawn up by whoever catches you.

Barbecues: where you can and when you can't

On an ordinary day you can grill meat over a fire in places set up for it — in leisure parks and picnic areas with barbecues or fire pits. In your own garden too — if it is not in the countryside and the danger class has not reached the two top levels.

On a danger day, portable grills and barbecues are allowed only in designated places and only outside APPS areas. A fire ‘just on the ground’ is never allowed anywhere — not by a river, not on a beach, not on your own plot in the forest.

The practical rule is simple: if you are planning a barbecue, first check the danger class for your municipality, then look for a designated place. Many picnic parks close on danger days of their own accord, and they announce it on the door, not online.

“yeah that's clear and there's fire danger now that's why we're checking about the special places, maybe someone did a barbecue recently”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

TableGamesPortugal30.06.2025

“There are special places, like public gardens and just places where barbecues are set up, if you do it just anywhere you can get a fine”

Translated from Ukrainian; the original is at the link

ukrporto11.07.2026

Burning branches and cuttings: when you need permission

The law separates two different things, and mixing them up is expensive.

‘Burning piles’ (queima de amontoados) is when cut material is gathered into a pile of no more than four square metres and no higher than 1.3 metres. When the danger class is below ‘very high’, such burning requires permission from the câmara from 1 June to 31 October and a simple notification to the câmara in the other months. When the danger is ‘very high’ or ‘maximum’ — only with the câmara's permission, and the câmara will decide who has to be present.

A ‘queimada’ is burning material that has been cut but not gathered into piles: renewing pasture, burning stubble. On ‘very high’ and ‘maximum’ danger days it is banned outright. On other days — only with the câmara's permission and in the presence of a person certified in controlled burning or a team of firefighters or forestry workers. The law explicitly calls burning without permission and without supervision deliberate arson.

How to apply: by phone or online to your câmara, or directly in the ICNF app ‘Queimas e Queimadas’. The câmara must register every request there, even one taken by phone. If the GNR turn up, it is the confirmation of the permission or notification that you need to show.

And here is what the state service itself advises: do not burn in dry, hot weather or when it is windy, choose overcast, damp days, do not burn alone, clear a strip at least half a metre wide around the pile beforehand and wet it, keep water or a hose nearby, do not leave until you are sure everything is out, and keep your phone on you.

Fifty metres around the house: who must clear it and what exactly to do

This is the main obligation, and newcomers learn about it from their neighbours or from a letter from the câmara.

Who must do it. Not only the owner: the law names owners, tenants, users and anyone at all who holds land within fifty metres of a building used as a home or for business. The strip is measured from the outer wall of the house: 50 metres if it takes in forest, and 10 metres if it is only farmland. Around a village that borders a forest the strip is wider — 100 metres, and it is cleared by those whose land falls within it. An important consequence: you also have to clear around your neighbour's house if your plot falls within those fifty metres — the obligation is tied to the land, not to whose house it is.

What ‘clearing’ means. New technical standards have applied since 21 January 2026. Within two metres of the walls of the house, everything flammable is removed completely, and where possible a non-flammable strip is laid; this also applies to annexes, canopies and pergolas. Further out, up to ten metres, trees and shrubs are thinned: individual ones may stay, but with more than four metres between crowns, and lower branches are removed up to half the height of the tree (for a tree taller than eight metres — at least four metres from the ground). Beyond ten metres and up to the edge of the strip, the same rule on lower branches applies, and continuous scrub is not allowed. The crowns of trees and shrubs must be at least five metres from the house and must not overhang the roof. Firewood, planks and fuel must not be kept against the wall of the house.

What not to rush into: felling or pruning cork oak and holm oak (sobreiro, azinheira) requires ICNF permission, felling wild holly is banned outright, and conifers need a ‘felling manifest’. These are separate rules, and they apply even when a tree gets in the way of clearing.

The deadline for clearing, and what happens if you don't

There is no single date in the law — this is what people get wrong most often. The deadline for the work is set each year by an order of the ministers responsible for civil protection and forests, and it may differ by region. In 2026 the government extended it to 30 June. The most reliable way to find out the date for your year and your municipality is to ask the câmara's forestry office (Gabinete Técnico Florestal) — it is also the office that sends out the warnings.

If you don't clear it, the câmara is entitled to do it for you. The owner must let its people onto the land and pay for the work. The law allows 30 days for this enforced clearing if the land is on the map as high or very high fire danger, and 60 days in other cases.

The fine is separate from the cost of the clearing. Failing to clear around a house is, in itself, classed by the law as a minor environmental offence: for an individual that is €200–⁠2,000 through negligence and €400–⁠4,000 if it is proved that you deliberately did not do it. If an order then arrives and you fail to comply with that too, the offence becomes serious — €2,000–⁠20,000 and €4,000–⁠40,000.

A useful detail: under the environmental offences law you can pay ‘voluntarily’, without waiting for a decision — and then the fine is calculated at the lower limit of the range. This works for minor and serious offences, and for very serious ones only when the fault is negligence. There is one condition: by that point the offence must have stopped, that is, the plot must have been cleared after all.

In four years of conversations, this obligation has hardly ever come up in the Russian-speaking chats in Portugal: there are no stories in the archive of anyone being fined for uncleared grass. This does not mean that nobody gets fined — it means that so far few people in our community live in a private house next to a forest.

What breaking the rules costs: three levels of seriousness

Since 15 July 2023, the amounts of fines for fire offences have been taken not from the wildfire law itself but from the framework law on environmental offences. The wildfire law now only says which offence is minor, which is serious and which is very serious. For an individual (not a company) the ranges are:

— minor: €200–⁠2,000 through negligence, €400–⁠4,000 if deliberate. This covers an uncleared strip around a house and burning a pile without the câmara's permission in the summer months; — serious: €2,000–⁠20,000 and €4,000–⁠40,000. This covers smoking and any fire in the countryside on a danger day, using a petrol strimmer or chainsaw, failing to comply with an order, a queimada without the câmara's permission, and walking in a closed forest in an APPS area; — very serious: €10,000–⁠100,000 and €20,000–⁠200,000. This covers a campfire and burning anything at all on a ‘very high’ or ‘maximum’ danger day, a queimada on such a day, and setting off rockets and sky lanterns.

The figures look implausibly large, but these are the ranges in force, and the lower limit is what a person who admits the offence straight away will pay. In other words, a cigarette end thrown away on a forest road in July costs two thousand euros at the very least.

A fire nearby: 112 and the first minutes

Call 112 straight away, even if the fire seems small. The state service makes a particular point of this: most accidents have happened at small fires, precisely because they were underestimated.

What to say: calmly and to the point — where you are, what you can see, which way the smoke is going. The operator needs to understand the location to send the fire engines exactly there. They will take the call in English.

If you are out walking and see fire: move to a safe place, staying on the path and keeping out of the undergrowth. Watch the smoke — it shows which way the wind is blowing; if the column is leaning towards you, get away fast. The worst place to be is above the fire on a slope or in a ravine: uphill, flames move faster than a person. Look for a place without vegetation or one that has already burnt.

If the fire is close to your house: warn your neighbours, turn off the gas, soak the walls, the roof and ten metres around, close the windows, doors and shutters, move furniture, awnings and firewood away from the walls, take gas cylinders to a safe place, and block gaps with wet towels. Move your car off the access roads — the firefighters will need them. And from then on, do what the firefighters and the local safety officer tell you, not what you have come up with yourself.

“Dear residents of Setúbal! My name is Sergei. I work in the professional fire brigade Sapadores de Setúbal. We differ from volunteer firefighters in that we are a professional service: — daily training — continuous professional development — well-coordinated teamwork — fast and precise action Every day we face one problem: after dialling 112, 10–⁠15 minutes pass before we are activated. Our company has a direct number for the dispatch centre: 📞 [phone] The call is free. The call goes straight to our command centre. Activation time — 2–⁠3 minutes.”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

chatsetubal27.02.2026

“About the fire: we have now been working at the scene for about three hours. A large number of firefighters are involved in fighting it, as well as two planes and two helicopters. Unfortunately, the situation remains very difficult. At the moment six of our colleagues have been taken to hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning (CO). The fire has not yet been brought under control. The area of the fire is very large, a strong wind keeps fanning the flames, and thick smoke is making the work much harder. We are doing everything we can to stop the flames spreading. Right now the main task is to keep the fire from reaching the town.”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

chatsetubal03.07.2026

If it is too late to leave: refuge and a shut-up house

The Portuguese system has a separate procedure for this, and it is worth finding out about it in advance, not on the day of the fire.

Villages that are part of the ‘Aldeia Segura’ programme have their own local safety officer (oficial de segurança local), pre-marked shelter and refuge places, and an evacuation plan, which is sometimes even practised in drills. As of September 2026 the programme covers 2,435 villages; 2,280 have a local officer appointed, 1,057 have an evacuation plan, and 1,582 shelter places and 1,576 refuge places have been marked. Ask your junta de freguesia (parish council) whether your village has this and where exactly.

If fire surrounds you outdoors: go to a refuge or shelter, and if there is none nearby — to flat ground without vegetation or to water. Breathe close to the ground, through a wet cloth if possible. Cover your head and body. Call 112 to let them know where you are.

If you decide to stay in the house: move curtains and sofas away from the windows, close everything that can be closed, block gaps with wet towels, keep away from the walls and go to the rooms on the side of the house furthest from the fire. Wait until the fire front has passed, and then go round the house and the roof — sparks start fires even after the main fire has moved on.

A bag packed in advance means a first-aid kit, your regular medicines, water and food that won't go off, toiletries, a change of clothes, a radio, a torch and a whistle.

Smoke travels further than fire

A fire can be a hundred kilometres away, and you will still be breathing it. Wildfire smoke contains carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, formaldehyde and fine particles; it can cause irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, a lingering cough, swelling of the airways, and flare-ups of asthma and heart disease. It is hardest on older people, children, pregnant women and people with heart and lung conditions, but healthy people get symptoms too — it all depends on how much you breathed in and for how long.

What to do: stay at home with the windows and doors closed, switch the air conditioning to recirculation, do not burn anything unnecessary at home (gas appliances, candles, incense, cigarettes), cancel outdoor activities, and if you do have to go out, wear an N95 mask. An ordinary cloth mask gives no protection against smoke particles. Take your regular asthma and COPD medicines as usual and call a doctor if you get worse.

Who to call: 808 24 24 24 — the SNS 24 line, if you need to work out whether to see a doctor; 800 250 250 — the CIAV poison centre, if it is a case of poisoning; 112 — if someone is unwell right now. Signs that mean you call immediately: burns on the face, difficulty breathing, confusion.

And one myth that SNS 24 addresses specifically: milk does nothing for smoke poisoning — it is not an antidote to carbon monoxide and does not reduce the risk.

“Yes, in the north of Parque das Nações there's incredible smog too Something's burning, but it's not clear where”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

chatlisboa22.07.2026

“Yes, I also woke up this morning to the smell of smoke. Even though yesterday, when it was burning, nothing reached us.”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

chatsetubal04.07.2026

The heat itself: who is at risk and what to do

Portuguese heat is drier and lasts longer than the summer stuffiness many people are used to, and its main danger is not discomfort but dehydration. The health service lists where it can lead: severe dehydration, cramps, worsening of chronic illnesses, heat exhaustion, sunstroke, death.

What SNS 24 advises on hot days: stay in cool, well-ventilated rooms; drink water or natural juices regularly, even when you are not thirsty; avoid hot, alcoholic, fizzy, caffeinated and sugary drinks; stay out of direct sun from 11 am to 5 pm; apply sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher every two hours; wear light, loose, light-coloured clothing, a hat and sunglasses; do not exercise outdoors; never stay in a car in the sun; eat light meals, and more often.

Who is at greater risk: young children, people aged 65 and over, people with chronic conditions, those who work outdoors, athletes and people who live alone. With people who live alone the rule is simple: call them at least twice a day.

With babies: light, light-coloured clothing, a hat outdoors, give them drinks more often than usual, keep them out of the sun from 11 am to 5 pm, sunscreen before going out, and never leave them in a car or in the sun, even briefly. Call SNS 24 or a doctor immediately if they have heavy sweating, weakness, cold, clammy, pale skin, a fast or weak pulse, vomiting, fainting, diarrhoea or a temperature.

If you work outdoors: drink often, nothing sugary or alcoholic, cool down during breaks, somewhere cool if possible, and work so that colleagues are nearby. If you exercise — early in the morning or in the evening, start and finish gradually, drink before, during and after, and stop at once if you feel weak.

“If (God forbid) a person is in a critical condition and their life is in danger, then calling sns24 is just wasting precious time. Call 112. That's the ambulance number. You can speak English if you can't describe the problem clearly and precisely in Portuguese. We had a situation like this with my mother-in-law (suspected stroke). Literally 5 minutes later the bombeiros arrived and found that her blood sugar had dropped to a critical level. They started giving her syrup, but the sugar wouldn't go up. They called real doctors, who put her on a drip and injected something.”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

chatleiria08.08.2026

Flat, house and dog in the heat

This is what the chats talk about most, and the advice there is the same.

Portuguese homes were built for mild winters, not for forty degrees: few walls are thick, insulation is often missing altogether, but almost everywhere there are external shutters (estores). During the day they are lowered and the windows kept closed, and the place is aired at night and early in the morning — this works better than you might think. Not every home has air conditioning, and getting it fitted takes a long time: people describe buying a unit in May and having it installed in July, just as the heat arrived.

Hence a practical tip for renters: ask about air conditioning and shutters before signing the contract, and for a short-term let — before paying. A landlord who responds to a complaint about the heat by suggesting you ‘open the little window’ is not just a theoretical possibility.

With dogs: move walks to early morning and late evening, take water with you, and outdoors wet the paws, belly and chest, not the head and back. During the day asphalt and sand burn paw pads, and you don't notice it straight away.

“Yesterday airbnb didn't even give us bed linen for 2 of the 4 guests I've been waiting for support to reply for more than a day because on top of that it was impossible to stay in the cottage because of the heat and no working air conditioners, and the host recommended opening the open little window 30 by 40. We refused to check in. Anyway I'm waiting for a refund. The funny thing - support in the chat wait 24 hours (at first it was 1 hour) By phone - 2 minutes but only in Portuguese and they hang up on you (How an international platform for travellers can have support only in the local language - I don't understand.”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

Motorbike chat 🇵🇹19.07.2026

“Well I've sent my husband off for more fans We'll cool down the old-fashioned way. We naively thought, judging by last summer, that we'd got away from the heat😂 I'm already only looking at flats or houses with air conditioning.”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

beremennost_portugal31.07.2025

“We're in the greater Lisbon area ) Yes, it was hot in summer, but we just shifted our walk times. And at home we put the air conditioning on for her, but actually we did exactly the same in Kyiv in summer ))”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

portugal_pets02.10.2025

“I'd also add that you mustn't wet the head and back! If the dog is still hot and it's important to make being outside a bit easier, you can wet the paws, tummy and chest. Always have water with you, even if the dog is walked early in the morning or late in the evening. If it's very hot at home you can fill a bath/basin with water at about 37-35°, not cold, and let the dog lie in it. No going suddenly from the heat into cold water, it puts a very heavy strain on the blood vessels.”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

portugal_pets27.06.2026

What closes on danger days

On high-danger days it is not only forest trails that close. Whole mountain parks, picnic areas, forest leisure areas and individual roads are closed. Sometimes the decision is made by the câmara, sometimes by the park itself, and it is announced only hours in advance: on the radio, on the park's website and on its social media pages.

On 13 June 2026, for example, Serra de Sintra was closed because of the fire danger, and tours were moved to the palaces. If you are planning a hike, check the park's website the evening before and in the morning, not just the weather forecast.

If you have set out on a route anyway and things around you are closed or there is smoke: turn back. Formally, walking through a closed public forest in an APPS area on a danger day is a serious offence with a range starting at two thousand euros, but that is not even the point: fires most often catch people out where they did not know the area.

“I also heard on the radio today that some of the parks are closed. There's information here: [link]”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

chatsintra13.06.2026

After the fire

The burnt ground and blackened slopes stay for a long time, but forest in Portugal recovers faster than you would expect: after a fire, eucalyptus grows back from the stump within a few years, because it is itself adapted to fire — its seed capsules open in the heat. That is exactly why eucalyptus plantations make bad neighbours for a house.

What a landowner should do after fire has passed nearby: if the plot borders a road or a railway, the law requires burnt trees to be removed in a strip of 25 metres on each side — on notice from the câmara or the GNR and within the deadline they set. The damage is assessed by the câmara, and for large fires by ICNF.

And something you don't think of straight away: in the first days after a big fire, firefighters need ordinary things — bottled water, isotonic drinks, snack bars. Collection points are announced by the câmara and the junta de freguesia.

“I haven't been there since the fires. Seems the village wasn't damaged, but the forests burnt. But if it's eucalyptus there, it'll grow back in about five years”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

Motorbike chat 🇵🇹24.03.2026