The IPMA has also placed several municipalities in all districts on the continent (18) at very high and high risk of fire. The risk of fire will remain high in some regions of the continent until at least 23 August. This risk determined by the IPMA has five levels, ranging from reduced to maximum. Calculations are obtained from air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and amount of precipitation in the last 24 hours.

Due to continued weather conditions that increase the risk of fire, the Government decided to extend the alert situation until 11:59pm on 19 August in 14 districts. On 16 August, the Government had already extended the declaration of the alert situation until the end of the day on 18 August and now, according to a statement from the Ministry of Internal Administration, it is extending it again until 11:59pm on 19 August.

The decision, signed by the ministers of Defence, Internal Administration, Agriculture and Environment, covers the same districts: Beja, Bragança, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Évora, Faro, Guarda, Leiria, Lisbon, Portalegre, Santarém, Setúbal, Vila Real and Viseu. In the context of the alert situation, the Government recalls, exceptional measures are implemented, such as the prohibition of access, circulation and permanence inside forest areas previously defined in the Municipal Plans for the Defence of Forests against Fires. The same prohibition applies to forest paths, rural paths and other roads that cross them.

The declaration of the alert situation implies, for example, that the increase in the level of readiness and operational response of the GNR and PSP, with reinforcement of the means for surveillance and other operations, which may be interrupted by vacations and days off. It also implies increasing the level of readiness and mobilisation of teams for medical emergency, public health and psychosocial support, or the permanent mobilisation of teams of Sapadores Florestais, the National Corps of Forestry Agents and Nature Watchers.