Lousã, Portugal, Aug. 19, 2025 (Lusa) - A couple lost their mobile home in Silveira de Cima, in Lousã, and have been sleeping in a van for the past few days. In Cabanões, a young man is starting again from scratch in rebuilding his future home.

In the early hours of Friday morning, he fled the house towards the wind turbines at around 2 a.m., the highest point from where Valter, together with firefighters, saw his mobile home being consumed by flames until he could no longer see anything and had to “go down”, the 42-year-old man told the Lusa news agency.

Valter Martins and his partner Liliana used their mobile home as a temporary solution while they rebuilt a house next door in Silveira de Cima, where they have lived since 2012.

“I lost everything I had inside. Stoves, machines, batteries, solar panels, everything. I managed to save my animals and my vehicles,” he said.

In addition, the house he was rebuilding also escaped the flames of the fire that broke out on Thursday in Candal and which, in the early hours of that morning, spread up the hillside.

“I was hoping to finish rebuilding the house in six months, but I’m pleased to focus on more urgent matters, so I’ll complete it in two or three months,” he said.

He currently lives in his work van and stays at a campsite, choosing to maintain his independence even though several friends have offered him a place to stay.

To rise above the challenges, he has set up a fundraising campaign (https://www.gofundme.com/f/vitimas-do-incendio-da-lousa) not only to recover the loss of his mobile home, but also to help the animals of the Serra da Lousã, a cause he has supported in the past.

“I had several orphaned deer that I raised and cared for, and they roamed freely, needing straw to eat. I’ve seen several herds of them in the mountains,” he said.

In Cabanões, also in the municipality of Lousã, the house that José Francisco had begun rebuilding about a year ago was destroyed by fire.

“I had not done any major work yet, but I lost materials and tools, and structurally, I will need to invest significantly more money now to recover, as the walls will all come down. The investment will be substantially higher,” the 34-year-old electrical engineer told Lusa, now faced with a reconstruction that will be more expensive but also more time-consuming.

Although he previously hoped to make it his primary residence within a year or two, he now expects the project to take at least five years to complete.

Despite this, he insists that he will go ahead with the reconstruction, “which has great sentimental value” for his family, said the young man who works in Serpins and is originally from Lousã, but whose mother is from Cabanões.

On Friday morning, José Francisco was in the village, and he left around lunchtime to help family members.

When he returned, the house had burned down, and the fire had passed, with the flames being fought by only six people who remained in Cabanões, a village that only saw firefighters at 10 p.m. that day.

In addition to the house, he has returned the changes to the landscape near the village, which he had already planned and started to implement, to square one, creating a fresh opportunity for thoughtful development.

Despite this, José Francisco says that the community is even stronger “to do the things that have been put off for too long.”

“There is a lot of support from the local community, the residents and friends. In that sense, I am hopeful for the future,” he said.

JGA/ADB // ADB.

Lusa