The National Republican Guard (GNR) will begin monitoring the clearance of forest and agricultural land starting this Monday.
Property owners had until yesterday to complete the clearance to prevent rural fires.
The GNR, including its Nature and Environment Protection Service (Sepna), is now poised to oversee fuel management around buildings and infrastructures, with the authority to fine owners who have neglected their land clearance duties.
However, the authorities will exercise “some good sense” in fining, acknowledging “significant challenges in the labor market and machinery,” while also recognizing the perspective of “the neighbor who complied and is entitled to expect the adjacent land to be clean.”
Legally, the deadline for land clearance extends to April 30, but the government has extended this to May 31 due to weather conditions and, subsequently, for an additional 15 days until June 15, at the request of sector associations.
As part of the Safe Forest Campaign 2025, aimed at preventing forest fires, the GNR identified “10,417 plots that may face violations for inadequate fuel management” from February 16 to April 30, according to the security force’s communication division.
Fuel management aims to reduce plant and wood material to curb the spread and intensity of fires around rural residences and communities, with most identified infractions in the districts of Leiria (2,606), Bragança (1,162), Santarém (941), Coimbra (818), and Viseu (798).
The 10,417 plots identified this year exceeded last year’s 10,256 by May 31 but are below the numbers recorded in previous years, with 14,319 in 2023, 10,989 in 2022, 14,545 in 2021, 24,227 in 2020, and 31,582 in 2019.
Ricardo Vaz Alves, director of Sepna with the GNR, noted that the “number of identifications aligns with last year’s trend” and, compared to the 14,000 in previous years, believes there is “progress in social awareness regarding fuel management.”
“Significant work in awareness-raising is bearing fruit in fuel management,” Alves stated in comments. The Sepna director affirmed that the GNR’s goal is “always to raise awareness and seek to rectify potentially infringing situations” and only as a last resort will “prepare an infraction report due to lack of fuel management,” after “identifying, speaking with owners and even neighbors,” to ensure the message is conveyed and corrections are made.
Since the launch of the Safe Forest Campaign until May 18, the GNR has recorded, according to provisional data, 36 infraction reports for illegal burns and 100 reports for unauthorized pile burning and bonfires.
Fuel management aims to prevent rural fires, but the National Federation of Forest Owners Associations (FNAPF) requested an extension of “one and a half months” due to weather conditions.
Faced with difficulties in hiring companies for the clearance work, particularly due to labor shortages and equipment limitations, the FNAPF and the National Association of Forestry, Agricultural, and Environmental Companies considered the deadline insufficient for most tasks, requesting more time before authorities commence monitoring non-compliance and issuing fines.
Infractions in fuel management constitute offenses punishable with fines ranging from 140 to 5,000 euros for individuals and from 1,500 to 60,000 euros for corporations.
