Portuguese Dance Festival Evacuated After 422 Cars Catch Fire [VIDEO]

Thousands of attendees of Portugal’s annual, seven-day Andancas festival were evacuated from the grounds on Wednesday after over 400 cars in the nearby parking lot caught fire.

The fire started around 3 p.m. local time and was fought by 160 firefighters, 42 vehicles and four air vessels. Authorities said that there were no casualties.

One witness, musician Pedro Mestre, told authorities that the cars exploded as the fire raged on, sounding “like popcorn.”

Carlos Guerra from the Portuguese National Civil Protection Authority said, “”The fire started in a vehicle and spread rapidly to other vehicles and then to the surrounding bush.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8Hu4sxFpuY

https://twitter.com/_Runam/status/761132695715971073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Tendo em conta o nome do #Andanças, não estranho que o peeps que foi de carro tenha agora de andar a pé. pic.twitter.com/yiCFFu8OJj

— Filipe Homem Fonseca (@fhf) August 3, 2016

#andanças pic.twitter.com/21vswtpOJd

— Javier Gómez (@JAVI_GOMEZ) August 3, 2016

Sources: Wheels24, Xinhuanet