The Viana do Castelo City Council announced today that a collaboration agreement has been signed with the Escola dos Serviços of Póvoa de Varzim in the Porto district. This agreement aims to ensure surveillance and patrolling activities in the Serra de Santa Luzia, continuing a practice in place since 2011, following fires in the summers of 2005 and 2010 that affected various sites, including the iconic landmark of the city.
The city council explains that Serra de Santa Luzia is considered a critical area within the municipality due to the significant growth of vegetation and the prolonged absence of fire incidents.
Data from the Forest Fire Management System of the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF), released today by the city council, indicate that in 2010, there were 405 rural fire incidents in Viana do Castelo, a figure that has seen a steep decline in recent years.
Since 2019, the number of incidents has remained under one hundred annually, following 2005 and 2016 as the most alarming years. There were 84 incidents in 2019, 89 in 2020, 87 in 2021, 78 in 2022, 70 in 2023, and 52 in 2024.
The area affected by fires has also decreased considerably, from 4,190 hectares in 2010 to 112 hectares in 2019, 71 hectares in 2020, 266 in 2021, 322 in 2022, 101 in 2023, and 253 in 2024.
The agreement, signed today by socialist mayor Luís Nobre and Colonel Fernando Manuel Batista da Costa, Commander of the Escola dos Serviços, primarily aims to ensure forest patrolling of Serra de Santa Luzia in a preventive and deterrent manner, thereby reinforcing surveillance in this sensitive area.
The goal is to help reduce risk behaviors and, consequently, decrease the detection and response time to potential rural fires.
The agreement mandates daily patrolling, surveillance operations, and forest defense, involving eight military personnel dedicated to surveillance.
Under the signed agreement, the Escola de Serviços commits to providing vehicles and personnel for surveillance operations, keeping the responsible entities (the Alto Minho Sub-Regional Emergency and Civil Protection Command and/or the Viana do Castelo Firefighter Company) informed at all times, immediately reporting any significant occurrences.
The Viana do Castelo City Council, in turn, commits to supplying the necessary materials to fulfill the mission, sharing costs arising from surveillance activities, among other obligations.
