The fire that broke out in the Serra da Estrella National Park has resumed. Portugal and which was brought under control last week, civil protection said.

After the fire was brought under control on the night from Friday to Saturday, it flared up again last Monday evening, according to civil protection chief Andre Fernandez. He added that many villages in the area were evacuated as a precaution.

The Serra da Estrella fire, the worst fire in Portugal this summer, has burned 150,000 hectares, according to the latest, yet preliminary data from the Portuguese authorities.

This fire, which broke out on August 6 on the outskirts of Covilha in central Portugal, destroyed the unique forests of this UNESCO-recognized Global Geopark, located in the heart of the Serra da Estrella massif.

While the Civil Protection leadership is being criticized for managing the fire, Portuguese Interior Minister José Luís Carneiro promised on Monday that there would be an investigation into “structural causes” and “the method of fighting fires” after the Serra da Estrella fire.

Portugal, which is experiencing an unprecedented drought this year, also had its warmest July in nearly 100 years.

Nearly 800,000 acres of land have been reduced to ash since the start of the year, according to the Forest and Nature Conservancy, the largest toll since the deadly wildfires of 2017, which killed about 100 people.

^{Sources: APE-MPE, AFP.}