Lessons learned since 2017 (when over 100 died in raging forest fires) have seen 2023 come out as a year to celebrate: Portugal suffered less wildfires than has been the norm in the last decade; less area was burnt – and no one died. It is in fact the first year EVER (since records began) that no one has been reported dead as a result of a rural fire. Tiago Oliveira, president of AGIF, the agency set up post-2017’s infernos to promote integrated management of forests and scrubland, has said “I think we should celebrate 2023” for the leaps and bounds that appear to have been made, much of them due too to the heightened awareness of society at large over how to behave during tinderbox dry, long, hot summers.
