In the ashes of the worst day of fires

In the days that followed the tragedy on 15 October, photojournalist Miguel Valle de Figueiredo left Lisbon and headed for Tondela, where he has a house, equipped with clothing, supplies and a camera. 

He still finds it hard to talk about what he encountered there and that he continued to take photos of over the following two months. He travelled through the districts of Viseu and Coimbra, consumed by the flames, where he heard the stories of so many people who had lost everything or almost everything.

On what is considered the day the country saw more fires than ever before, 51 people died – many of them still in their homes – and hundreds were injured. 

Around 500 fires swept through more than 60 municipalities in the country. In 24 hours, over 220,000 hectares burned, an area more than twice the size of Lisbon City.

«The idea of documenting everything I could about those days came as soon as I arrived home, after seeing the first photos I’d taken. I realised that nobody was going to make an "archive" of the condition of the many areas for future memory», he said.

Fulfilling this mission, the pictures he took gave rise to the Ashes exhibition, which travelled to different parts of the country, as well as to the parliament, and will be held again in Casa da Cultura in Santa Comba Dão from 12 October. These are some of those photos.