Month: August 2016

A one-off blog to promote the fund-raising for Jardim Orquídea. This seems to have become something of a focal point in the aftermath of the fires. If Jardim Orquídea could be recovered at least to part of its former glory at some point, however ............  ...read more

Fire damage figures

The Diario reports this morning that last week’s fires consumed an estimated total of 6,266 hectares (63 square kilometers) in three municipalities of Madeira – Calheta was the most affected “county”, followed by Funchal and Ponta do Sol. The Institute for Forestry ............  ...read more

Animal Rescue

The Diario reports that the Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Fisheries has said that it “has been on the ground collecting animals affected by fires in several municipalities in the region”, including the central highland area. He said that at this point, the ............  ...read more

Jardim Orquídea

Todays Diario carries this awful photo of Jardim Orquídea, on the southern edge of the Botanical Gardens, where a collection of 50,000 fully-grown orchids was destroyed on Tuesday night. The private collection dates back ............  ...read more

The official “Visit Madeira” website picked up the same theme “returning to normality” from yesterday’s blog, confirming that there were, as of last night, no active fires on the island, although the Calheta/Prazeres area is being monitored closely. The Regional Secretariat ............  ...read more

7.00am

Woken at 5.00 this morning by sirens – a lot of them – so unlikely that there will be any good news today. The wind has not returned, but what there is seems to have changed directions slightly. A pall of smoke still hangs over the bay of Funchal and the smell of burning pervades. ............  ...read more

7.00: Fires in Funchal centre

A thick pall of smoke lies over central Funchal this morning after last night’s fires, with still the heavy scent of burning that we have quickly become used to over what is little more than 36 hours. The “good news”, if there is any, is that the strong warm “sirocco” ............  ...read more