Former Left Bloc deputy Joana Mortágua stated on Saturday that “every year there are shameless opportunists” seeking to “exploit the tragedy” of forest fires. She also pointed out that “forest land management is not compatible with total private freedom.”
“Every year. And every year there are shameless opportunists who exploit the tragedy. Every year they claim to have the solution. Yet, if the opportunists were in charge, every year would be like this, a tragedy,” she wrote on social media platform X.
Joana Mortágua further added that “the hardest truth to say is not ‘arrest the arsonists,’ that’s easy and obvious.” “What’s more difficult to say is: the climate has changed.”
Mortágua continued to note that “forest land management is not compatible with total private freedom” and emphasized that “for the good of all, some must give up their selfishness.”
“Those who died this and other summers had no chance to give up their lives. Let there be respect,” she concluded.
A verdade mais dura de se dizer não é “prendam os incendiários”, essa é fácil e óbvia. O que é difícil dizer é: o clima mudou. A gestão territorial florestal não é compatível com a total liberdade privada. Para bem de todos, alguns têm de abdicar do seu egoísmo.
— Joana Mortágua (@JoanaMortagua) August 16, 2025
Quem morreu neste e noutros verões não teve oportunidade de abdicar da vida. Haja respeito.
— Joana Mortágua (@JoanaMortagua) August 16, 2025
It should be noted that the forest fires have already claimed a victim, former Vila Franca do Deão mayor Carlos Dâmaso.
The former mayor, a 43-year-old agricultural entrepreneur, husband, and father, died while fighting the blaze according to the mayor of Guarda.
His body was discovered on Friday, August 15, on family property in Vila Franca do Deão, in the municipality of Guarda, where the fire had started earlier that morning at 10:45 a.m.
The former mayor of Vila Franca do Deão was the first mortal victim claimed by this year’s forest fires. Carlos Dâmaso died while “defending his village and his own.”
Maria Gouveia with Lusa | 08:00 – 16/08/2025
Alert Situation Extended Until 11:59 p.m. Sunday
Additionally, on Thursday, Interior Minister Maria Lúcia Amaral announced that the government would extend the alert status due to the fires until Sunday, August 17.
The minister emphasized that all restrictions and prohibitions imposed by the alert state due to the heightened risk of fire would remain in place.
Portugal has been under alert status due to the risk of rural fires since August 2.
The Interior Minister noted that “adversity does not show signs of letting up tomorrow,” and thus, the government decided to extend the alert status due to the fires until Sunday, August 17.
Márcia Guímaro Rodrigues | 19:02 – 14/08/2025
Forest Fires Have Consumed 139,000 Hectares
According to information from the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF), from January 1 to August 14, 74,931 hectares had burned, a figure that has increased to 139,091 to date.
These figures reveal that in just the last two days, 64,160 hectares have burned, accounting for 46% of the total burned since the beginning of the year.
The forest fires have consumed up to now 139,000 hectares, half of which in just two days, representing 17 times more than the burned area in the same period last year, according to provisional ICNF data.
Lusa | 11:54 – 16/08/2025
