A stall at the Christmas fair held on Avenida Arriaga and Praça da Restauração caught fire this early evening.
Firefighters were mobilised to the scene, where one of the thatched houses had caught fire. Local stallholders controlled the fire until firefighters arrived.
It was initially thought that a heat induction plate had caused the fire. But later on, firefighters said that they believed that stray cigarette butts had actually ignited the thatch.
Later on, it was confirmed that the fire that consumed one of the thatched roofs of the Ethnographic Village in Largo da Restoration would have been caused by cigarette butts, with the organiser stating that they thought that the fire had been started by someone carelessly throwing a still-lit cigarette onto the straw roof.
The PSP was also on site to take care of the occurrence.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
Photo: DR/DNoticias
