EV Fire in Bragança Car Park Sparks Nationwide Rethink on Mall Safety

The echoes of sirens that rattled Bragança at dusk on Monday have already faded, and by mid-week shoppers were once again queuing for coffee in the food court. Yet the brief blaze that closed the city’s only enclosed mall for almost 15 hours has triggered a far broader conversation in Portugal about how electric vehicles, commercial real-estate safety and retail economics intersect.

A quiet return to business

When the glass doors of Bragança Shopping Center slid open at 10:00 on Tuesday, the atmosphere felt almost routine. Security guards waved regulars through with the usual smiles, and the scent of pastel de nata drifted from the ground-floor bakery. Only the faint smell of smoke in the underground car park reminded visitors that an electric-sedan fire, contained in less than an hour, had forced an evening-long evacuation. Director Mariema Gonçalves told reporters that the complex had been cleared for reopening after technicians verified the integrity of the sprinkler network, ventilation shafts, power lines, smoke detectors, backup generators, lift systems and emergency lighting.

Inside the 90-minute firefight

Fire crews reached the subterranean garage seven minutes after the first emergency call at 17:45. They faced temperatures above 600 ºC and dense lithium-ion vapour that can reignite without warning. According to Proteção Civil, forty-two bombeiros equipped with thermal cameras, insulated suits, water-mist lances, high-pressure foam, portable CO₂ canisters, ventilation turbines and gas-analysis devices worked in rotations to cool the battery pack before towing the charred vehicle into a sealed container. The swift action prevented structural damage to the adjacent pillars and kept the mall’s insurance excess under €50,000, roughly the price of the car itself.

Spotlight on electric vehicles

Portugal’s EV fleet has quadrupled since 2020, and the Bragança incident revives concerns first raised after last year’s airport-garage inferno in Lisbon. Specialists at the National Firefighter League note that standard hydrants can be ineffective against thermal runaway. They are lobbying for upgraded mobile water reservoirs, fire blankets, chemical suppressants, rapid-cooling units, dedicated training modules, remote temperature probes and post-incident monitoring protocols. A draft ordinance circulating in the Interior Ministry would oblige large car parks to install at least two battery-immersion pits by 2026.

Strengthened safety blueprint

During the overnight closure, independent engineers reinspected every fire door, exit corridor, roof ventilator, alarm loudspeaker, CCTV camera, access-control console, carbon-monoxide sensor and public-address script. Updated evacuation leaflets now appear in Portuguese, English and Spanish, while ushers practiced guiding wheelchair users to sheltered muster points. The mall’s management has also agreed to share live sensor data with local emergency services, enabling responders to check real-time temperature gradients, air-flow readings, occupancy counters, battery-pack hotspots and electrical-load metrics before arriving on-site.

Counting the cost for retailers

Although only one trading day was lost, Bragança’s 95 tenants estimate a combined revenue dip of about €380,000. High-margin restaurants missed the Monday dinner rush, and two cinema premieres were postponed. The administration has offered a symbolic rent credit, but several shop owners, especially those selling perishable goods, are negotiating for an additional marketing fund to lure back footfall. Economic analysts point out that even a brief shutdown can disrupt supply chains, trigger overtime payments and upset month-end cash flow, particularly in Portugal’s interior regions where malls double as social hubs.

Beyond Bragança: a national test case

The episode is already feeding into Lisbon’s strategy for climate-friendly transport. Lawmakers weigh amendments to the 2012 inspection decree that would tighten annual checks on battery enclosures, charging sockets, heat shields, software diagnostics, cable insulation, fuse arrays and ground-fault monitors. Insurance companies, meanwhile, are recalculating premiums for underground parking concessions. By turning an alarming moment into a stress test, Bragança’s quick rebound may end up accelerating a country-wide overhaul of how Portugal designs, insures and patrols the places where we shop, park and increasingly plug in our cars.