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Environmentalists advocate adapted fire-fighting in protected areas

“In a protected area, we cannot be limited to watching the fire advance and waiting below, because when the entire mountain burns, the situation is resolved. We must have a plan for each protected area. Analyze the most susceptible and have specific plans to act,” stated Paulo Lucas from the environmental association Zero.

The official noted that the Peneda-Gerês National Park (PNPG) is “the only national park” in the country, hosting a “mosaic of habitats, with different species that need to be preserved” and “very important natural values.”

“What seems to me here is that the fire-fighting strategy has not been correct. We need to look at protected areas and see if we have specific action plans to manage rural fires in those areas, which are our crown jewels,” he argued.

For Paulo Lucas, “the fire-fighting strategy must involve a different approach and different resources, with specialized teams that arrive closer to the fire.”

“We probably need operational plans aimed at each of the areas, analyze what is happening, and then think about how we are going to fight the fires when they occur, because the priority is always prevention,” he insisted.

The environmentalist emphasizes that the country has these specialized teams, “trained for meticulous work to protect the habitats.”

“We need to know if the forest sapper teams are not helping in these situations. What we know is that these teams do not reach the ground because the available aerial means are not prepared to transport these teams to the field, they are only prepared to carry water,” he observed.

“In protected areas, there must be a special treatment because they are special. Perhaps there should be aerial means allocated in strategic areas and plans to fight fires in these areas,” he stated, adding: “If we are doing the same things as in other areas, I am not sure if it is the best strategy.”

Paulo Lucas questions the “lessons learned by the Agency for the Integrated Management of Rural Fires” and hopes that from the fire that has been raging for almost a week in Ponte da Barca, within the Peneda-Gerês park, a “report will be produced to find out what happened,” as occurred after the 2022 fire in the Serra da Estrela.

“In the Serra da Estrela, there was a report. Will there also be a report regarding Gerês? Why did the fire spread so much? There has to be a report, we need to know what happened, so we can learn afterward,” he indicated.

The PNPG covers the districts of Braga (Terras de Bouro municipality), Viana do Castelo (Melgaço, Arcos de Valdevez, and Ponte da Barca municipalities), and Vila Real (Montalegre municipality), encompassing a total area of about 70,290 hectares.

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