Temperatures to spike; use of fire “must be avoided”
Portugal’s minister of internal affairs has warned today of rising temperatures and the risks they will bring for forest wildfires.
“Between August 20 -25, we will once again have very hot temperatures and moments of extreme drought in the country and, therefore, my appeal is that, once again, we try to avoid the use of fire – whether for domestic, agricultural or forestry purposes – and in the use of agricultural and/ or forestry machinery,” José Luís Carneiro told reporters during a visit with the minister of defence to the Serra do Montejunto.
Mr Carneiro stressed that around two-thirds of this year’s fires have been caused by the negligent use of fire.
“We’re talking about its use often for social gatherings, for domestic purposes, burning waste in particular, cleaning that is carried out from the point of view of agricultural practice, forest cleaning, and the use of agricultural and forestry machinery,” he explained.
Without going into details, Mr Carneiro – whose performance in office has seen him rated the country’s ‘best minister’ in an otherwise fairly lacklustre government – noted that “the Portuguese have become more responsible” towards the risks of fire these days. Proof of this is “the fact that there have been fewer ignitions this year than in 2022.
“In the first week of August, there were 120 fires, that’s a lot of fires, but we’ve had years when numbers were higher – and this is also the result of collective awareness of individual duties and collective duties, particularly in terms of taking care with fire, agricultural machinery and forestry machinery,” he said.
At Serra do Montejunto, José Luís Carneiro and defence counterpart Helena Carreiras thanked and acknowledged the cooperation of the Armed Forces in supporting fire prevention and firefighting.
In 2022, 11,013 military personnel, 3,201 vehicles and 1,643 flight hours were committed to 3,149 missions, according to figures released by the two ministries.
Since the beginning of this year, the figures point to 2,353 military personnel, 451 vehicles and 509 flight hours on 610 missions.
“We’re basically talking about reinforcing patrols and surveillance with the armed forces and GNR police forces, which have allowed for greater efficiency, particularly in detecting fires,” said Carneiro.
The minister also said that there are more than 200 GNR patrols this year, checking for fires, and another 50 by other members of the Armed Forces.
“The National Republican Guard has made more than 50 arrests and is on the trail of more than 700 identifications (of arson suspects) that have been made,” he added.
Source: LUSA
