The Judicial Police were called to investigate a new fire that broke out on Tuesday morning, 29th of September, in a building adjoining the property damaged by flames overnight on Friday into Saturday in Funchal’s Old Town.
Simão Santos, a technical assistant with Funchal Firefighters, said the cause remained undetermined. Investigators must establish whether material left smouldering after the earlier fire caused flames to spread into neighbouring rooms, or whether the new outbreak had another cause.
As firefighters could not determine how the blaze started, Judicial Police inspectors were requested to assess the scene.
Santos confirmed that nobody was inside the building when the fire broke out, although he could not say whether it had been occupied until recently.
The alarm was raised at 08:09, with the first crew arriving six minutes later. The response involved 25 personnel and nine vehicles from Funchal Firefighters, the Madeiran Volunteer Firefighters and Santa Cruz Firefighters, including an aerial ladder appliance. PSP officers cordoned off the area.
Firefighters subsequently began painstaking damping-down work, paying particular attention to wooden structures where hidden heat could cause further flare-ups.
Santos explained that the building’s internal divisions made the operation slow and meticulous. Crews remained at the scene for several hours, continually monitoring the situation to prevent any reignition.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
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