Last Tuesday, while they were on their way to fight the fire that broke out in the village of Tábua (Portugal), the flames took over the car in which volunteer firefighters Sónia Cláudia Melo, Susana Cristina Carvalho and Paulo Jorge Santos were travelling. This Saturday they were buried surrounded by circumspect authorities, tearful colleagues and announcements of honours in Vila Nova de Oliveirinha. If anyone can know what they lived through before they died, it is Rui Rosinha, the firefighter who survived the inferno in Pedrogão Grande in 2017. The images of these days, with the desperation of neighbours, the heroism of the firefighting teams and the criticism of mayors, have reactivated in Rosinha all the horror she suffered. To the point that she prefers not to talk about it.
But Dina Duarte, president of the Association of Victims of the Pedrogão Grande Fire, where 66 people died, does: “Portugal learned very little from the 2017 fires.” Duarte feels that the tragedy of that year has barely served to prevent new human losses and environmental catastrophes. “Fortunately, there have not been many deaths, but they are enough to create deep sadness. Not only in their families, but also in all those who have lost someone before. It is never easy for us to know that someone else has died in another fire, especially the firefighters,” she laments. “I feel a sadness and bitterness that I cannot even explain; this brings back a sad 2017 that did not improve at all for the future,” Duarte laments.
The wave of fires in the last week has scorched more than 135,000 hectares and claimed seven lives, as well as causing 12 serious injuries and the destruction of a number of houses and other buildings yet to be quantified. This year, which was on track to be one of the mildest, has become one of the worst of the decade in less than six days. Only 2017, with its tragic legacy of deaths and more than half a million hectares burned, can be considered worse.
During those six days, extreme weather conditions accelerated the spread of the flames. But the truth is that the state of the territory helped the flames to spread quickly. The surroundings of some of the burned houses have trees that are too close together, the edges of many roads are lined with eucalyptus or bushes, and a large part of the territory still needs to be cleaned up. “The fire prevention policy is advanced and recognises the importance of prevention. The problem is putting these intentions into practice on the ground. This is a chronic problem in Portugal: having good plans that we then fail to implement,” reflects Paulo Martins Fernandes, a professor at the University of Trâs-os-Montes, with a long history in fire research and forest management.
In 2024, fewer fires have been recorded, but their impact has been more devastating. As of September 17, “the year 2024 has the lowest number of fires and the fourth highest number of burned areas since 2014,” according to the Forest Fire Management System report. For the first time in a decade, the number of fires was below 6,000, a far cry from the 15,841 in 2017 or the 17,393 in 2015. There are fewer, but they are worse.
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One third of the fires were intentional
As for the causes, official statistics show that human action is the cause of most of them, either intentionally (33%) or through negligence when burning (12%). Police arrested a 47-year-old man on Saturday on suspicion of causing one of the most serious recent fires in Sever do Vouga, which lasted more than three days. He is also accused of causing three other fires in the area, recorded in July. Beyond his alcoholism, the police were unable to discern the reasons that could have encouraged his actions.
Protests have been called for this Sunday in 12 localities by citizen platforms, which are demanding a transformation of forestry and territorial policies, “actively combating the abandonment and monoculture of eucalyptus”. Paulo Martins Fernandes believes that the problem does not lie so much in the species as in the exploitation model. “It is a problem when there are very large continuous forest patches and when there is a lack of management of the territory”, he points out.
Of the more than 200,000 hectares of forest that were intended to be intervened each year, only one fifth has been achieved. For Dina Duarte, it is the responsibility of both the Government and the citizens: “Prevention also depends on us. Clean-ups must be carried out near the towns, it is obligatory and not all of the country has done it. There must be better management of forests and other vegetation, there cannot be a monoculture on so many kilometres as occurred here. The Government must do something to change this.”
