Catastrophic Fires in Portugal
September 2024
A Quick Intro
Hi, I’m Kimberly Anne and thrilled to be writing these articles for you. If you don’t know my background: I relocated alone from San Francisco to Portugal in September 2022, sight unseen and without a built-in support system. Before that, I spent a year traveling solo across the U.S., living in a van. I’m also a published indie author with over 30 novels hiding under my skirt (with a strong emphasis on hiding).
On Substack I have over 20 articles about traveling, living in Portugal, minimizing/minimalism and whatever else strikes my fancy. I post a new article (newsletter) each week. I also have a weekly podcast. You can find “all the things” on the main page here or in the archives or on my website!
The Fires
This week I had a post written and ready to go but… a hundred fires burning across Portugal waylaid everyone’s plans. The fires started on September 15th.
So far, seven people have died, 120 have been injured, over 122,000 hectares were burned and many homes, farms and businesses were lost.
Purportedly, some people on farms left their animals chained up with nowhere to go as fires raged through. That is unfathomable to me. I couldn’t find a news article on this, it was reported in my expat whatsapp Porto group and I’ve heard of it happening here before.
Since 2017 catastrophic fires have raged through Portugal yearly. And it’s no surprise, we’re on the same latitude as California + climate change + eucalyptus forests, which reportedly were proliferated by political corruption and greed. Again, this information comes from the Porto Whatsapp group.
The leaves are carried, burning, by the wind and the eucalyptus oil helps to ignite many other areas (brush and trees) which spread the fire. Portugal is known for cork, oaks and carob trees which don’t act as tinder for fire. But apparently these have been cut down and replaced with eucalyptus as they generate more money.
Fires all over the world will never cease to be devastating. Volunteer firefighters here in Portugal have lost their lives during this particular season. We also had fire fighting aircrafts fly in from Spain, France, Greece and Italy. Brave souls battled the blazes all night long in many places.
Orange Skies in Porto
As I walked my dog under the orange sky and blood red sun yesterday, I saw dozens of people not wearing face masks. Little kids were running and playing. My downstairs neighbor was carrying her infant outside with her nine year old running ahead—no one was masked.
My entire apartment stunk of smoke. So much so that it woke me up on Tuesday morning, even with all the windows closed.
I’m a Californian native. I’m used to fire and smoke. I hate it and I know how bad and dangerous it is, but I am used to it.
In California there were years where the sky was orange for a week, where the air quality level was over 200 AQI (air quality index). For reference it’s normally around 30 AQI.
0-50 is good.
151-200 is unhealthy.
201 - 300 is very unhealthy (and Porto reached that level yesterday).
301 - 500 is hazardous.
You can download the IQAir app for free to see what the quality is in different locations around the world, including your own.
The biggest fires I experienced in California were caused by the negligence of the power company, PG&E. The Camp Fire in 2018 burned down the entire town of Paradise and killed 85 people. It was started by the failure of the power company’s equipment. In 2019, in lieu of paying $13.5 billion to settle the claims against them, PG&E filed for bankruptcy.
But apparently, in 2020, the company was restructured and reparations were made for the victims.
PG&E was also the cause of a major fire in 2019 and another in 2021.
I left California in 2021 after living through three years of PG&E cutting the power to my entire county for a week at a time instead of fixing their equipment. During those times, I had to wear multiple layers of clothing in October as I had no heat, and cook soup on a portable campstove. It was pretty crazy. There was one point in time when I was super sick and couldn’t get out of bed and they cut my heat and my water. But hey, at least my apartment didn’t burn down!
And… they still cut the power to my old county for several days to a week each year. Great job PG&E.
And nowhere is perfect. While the power company doesn’t cut power here in Portugal due to their negligence, people still leave their animals to perish and the government doesn’t protect its forests.
The Smoke
While I’m used to wearing N95 masks in the house and even to sleep, the problem is that once that toxic smoke enters your lungs, it could be there to stay. And it completely wreaks havoc on our systems. Apparently the biggest hazard is from eucalyptus, what a surprise. Not.
I wish more people were educated about the hazards of the smoke, and I wish air filters were given out freely to people who can’t afford them.
My Solution
I grabbed my dog and my closest friend in Porto, who doesn’t have a car, and I drove us all to Spain. I am one of the privileged few who can do this and I fully recognize that. My friend and I found an affordable airbnb to split and stayed in gorgeous Vigo for three days, mostly smoke free.
After the three days she wanted to go back to Porto and I didn’t. The trains have stopped running in and out of the city. I offered her a longer stay but she opted for a bus back. IQ Air shows that the air quality, though good on Friday, will be detrimental on Saturday and Sunday. Thankfully it did rain today and will also rain next week. I’ve never been so grateful for rain!
My partner lives in Spain and I ended up moving further north, closer to where they live. They’re going to cover the costs and come stay here, in the new airbnb I found. I truly know how lucky I am right now, and I am extremely grateful.
Why am I so freaked out about this?
While I am majorly concerned for myself, I am more concerned for my dog who can’t wear a mask. As for me, I have lung issues. I don’t need to go into detail, but just to say, it’s challenging and even now, in Northern Spain, my chest hurts when I breathe in deeply.
I plan to return home in another few days. Next week’s Substack post and newsletter is… Part 2 of the differences between Portugal and the US.
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—Expat on a Budget AKA Living Abroad on a Budget and My Unknown Adventure by Kimberly Anne
Take care of yourself.
That is absolutely HORRIBLE about people leaving their poor farm animals chained up! I am so glad you are safe during this crazy time at least.