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PR1 (Pico do Areeiro to Pico Ruivo): 2024 Wildfire Damage and 2026 Reconstruction

Dated record of the August 2024 Madeira wildfire, the closure of the PR1 Vereda do Areeiro, the 2026 reconstruction works, the phased reopening on 27 April and 26 June 2026, and the change to the access fee. Claims attributed to IFCN, the Regional Government of Madeira and published reporting.

Por Filipe Pereira

Publicado:
Última actualización:

This page records what official bodies published about PR1 - Vereda do Areeiro, the 15.6 km route linking Pico do Areeiro (1,818 m) to Pico Ruivo (1,862 m), Madeira's highest peak: the August 2024 wildfire, the closure that followed, the reconstruction, the 2026 reopening and the change to the access fee. Each statement names the body that made it and the date. Where sources give different figures, all of them are shown.

Summary of dates

DateEventAttributed to
14 Aug 2024Fire starts in the Serra de Água parish, Ribeira BravaRegional civil protection, contemporaneous reporting
20-21 Aug 2024Fire reaches the summit of Pico Ruivo; firefighting team withdrawn to Achada do TeixeiraMayor of Santana, Márcio Dinarte Fernandes
25 Aug 2024Fire declared out after eleven daysRegional civil protection
Aug 2024PR1 closed following a major rockfall recorded during the firesRegional Government of Madeira; IFCN
1 Jan 2026New fee and reservation model for classified trails enters forceIFCN, under Portaria n.º 801/2025
27 Apr 2026Trail reopens to the public, phased and conditioned, the day after the MIUT raceIFCN
26 Jun 2026Full route open every day of the week, no calendar restrictionIFCN

The August 2024 fire

The fire began on the morning of 14 August 2024 on a steep, densely vegetated slope in the Serra de Água parish, municipality of Ribeira Brava. Strong winds repeatedly forced aerial firefighting units to abort. Over the following week the fire moved east across the central mountain massif and affected the municipalities of Ribeira Brava, Ponta do Sol, Câmara de Lobos, São Vicente and Santana.

Around midnight on 20 to 21 August the fire reached the summit of Pico Ruivo. Márcio Dinarte Fernandes, mayor of Santana, confirmed that the firefighting team and the shelter lookout were evacuated to Achada do Teixeira. The fire was declared out on 25 August, eleven days after it started. Regional authorities reported no deaths and no homes destroyed.

Burned area

Different bodies published different totals, measured on different dates and by different methods. Satellite perimeter estimates include unburned pockets inside the outer boundary; ground assessments do not.

FigureAs ofSource
4,392 ha20 Aug 2024, middayAntónio Nunes, president of the Regional Civil Protection Service, citing Copernicus data
over 5,700 ha20 Aug 2024European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), Aqua and Terra satellite detection
8,162 ha, about 14% of island forest21 Aug 2024, morningContemporaneous reporting; described as the worst fire on the island in 14 years
5,116 haPost-event totalEFFIS consolidated figure for the event

The laurel forest

The Laurisilva of Madeira is a UNESCO World Heritage Site covering roughly 15,000 hectares, about 20% of the island, and the largest surviving area of primary laurel forest in the world. The Regional Government of Madeira said during the event that the core of the laurel forest had not been reached; researchers and conservation bodies disputed that assessment at the time. The fire did burn laurel forest in Lombo do Urzal, Boaventura (São Vicente), and burned through the Central Mountain Massif, where PR1 runs. No consolidated official figure for the area of Laurisilva burned has been published.

Why PR1 closed

The closure was ordered because of a large rockfall on the route. The Regional Government describes it as motivated by a grande derrocada registada aquando dos incêndios de agosto de 2024, the major rockfall recorded at the time of the August 2024 fires, and IFCN cites the same event for the safety measures on the reopened route. Fire damage to vegetation and trail furniture along the ridge was real, but what kept the route shut for twenty months was slope instability on the section between the Miradouro da Pedra Rija and Pico Ruivo.

Which sections were rebuilt

Through the closure, the short bidirectional section from Pico do Areeiro to the Miradouro da Pedra Rija was the only part of PR1 open to walkers. The reconstruction addressed the remaining section, from the Miradouro da Pedra Rija to Pico Ruivo. The contract value was €602,000, reported on 29 April 2026 citing the notice on the Regional Government's official page. IFCN attributed the phased reopening to trabalhos de recuperação do piso, recovery of the walking surface, and stated on 31 May 2026 that the larger works were complete and the remaining tasks could be carried out with the trail open.

The reopening

  1. 1

    27 April 2026. IFCN scheduled the reopening for the day after the Madeira Island Ultra Trail, held on 25 and 26 April 2026, and described it as phased and conditioned.

  2. 2

    27 April to 25 June 2026. The section from the Miradouro da Pedra Rija to Pico Ruivo opened on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only, so that surface works could continue on the other days. The section from Pico do Areeiro to the Miradouro da Pedra Rija stayed open all week.

  3. 3

    26 June 2026. IFCN announced on 31 May 2026 that the full route to Pico Ruivo would be open every day of the week from 26 June.

Two changes were made permanent. PR1 is now walked in one direction only, Pico do Areeiro to Pico Ruivo, a measure IFCN defined as part of the safety response to the rockfall; walkers leave Pico Ruivo by PR1.1 Vereda da Ilha or PR1.2 Vereda do Pico Ruivo. Access requires prior booking on the SIMplifica portal, with time slots and a daily capacity.

The access fee, 2024 to 2026

PR1 was free to walk when it closed in August 2024. It reopened inside a paid access model introduced in January 2025 and revised for January 2026, both while the trail was shut.

PeriodFee for PR1Instrument
Until 31 Dec 2024No fee-
From 1 Jan 2025€3 per non-resident, on a list of seven trails that included PR1Regional Government access model for trails under higher visitor pressure
From 1 Jan 2026€10.50 full route; €4.50 for Pico do Areeiro to Miradouro da Pedra Rija and backPortaria n.º 801/2025 of 10 December 2025, amended by Portaria n.º 48/2026 of 13 February 2026

Under the 2026 model, IFCN sets €4.50 as the standard fee for an individual classified trail; PR1 is the exception. The €10.50 full-route ticket also covers PR1.1 Vereda da Ilha, PR1.2 Vereda do Pico Ruivo and PR1.3 Vereda da Encumeada once that route reopens. Residents of the Autonomous Region of Madeira and children aged 12 and under are exempt from the fee but still have to book.

Related pages on this site

Citing this page

https://madeirahiking.org/updates/pr1-2024-wildfire-2026-reconstruction

Pereira, Filipe. “PR1 (Pico do Areeiro to Pico Ruivo): 2024 Wildfire Damage and 2026 Reconstruction.” Madeira Hiking, 11 September 2026.

The URL is stable. Substantive changes are logged below with a date.

Changelog

  • 2026-09-11: Record published, covering 14 August 2024 to 26 June 2026.

Fuentes

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