Alert || Last Sunday (August 17) was Portugal’s worst day this year for forest fires – with no less than 111 starting up and down the country. Yet in the north, firemen in 21 corporations were shocked to find that a €300,000 consignment of protective clothing actually caught fire the minute they started using it.
Explaining the bizarre situation, Farejinhas fire chief Rui Pinto said: “Two men manning the hose started to feel sparks falling on them. It was then that they realised their jackets were on fire.”
Farejinhas’ firefighting association’s president Samuel Garcês measured his words carefully, saying it was all “very strange” as “the equipment had been purchased in order to increase firemen’s safety”. Viseu fire chief Rebelo Martins was less cautious, blaming the national civil protection authority for being off the ball and “failing to guarantee” standards.
Meantime, the summer’s forest fires got into their stride as temperatures soared.
Last weekend, there were a total of over 200 fires on Saturday and Sunday – “a number with centres flaring up almost simultaneously”.
“These have not been started by natural causes,” a commander in charge of operations told reporters.
Nonetheless, so far this year, incidents are 45% down on last year’s total, in which eight firefighters lost their lives.
As cooler temperatures were forecast for the coming week, IPMA, the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere, put 14 boroughs on “maximum alert”, including Faro in the south.
Reporting on the situation nationally, PJ police confirm that they have so far arrested 32 people for arson.
According to a report compiled by the Higher Institute of the Polícia Judiciária, the majority of arsonists are men, aged between 20 and 35, single or widowed. They are generally poorly-educated and “drink alcohol in excess”. “Many like to help the firemen put out the flames,” adds the report.
