Former Minister of Internal Administration, Eduardo Cabrita, emphasized the need for attention to wildfires beyond the critical summer period, highlighting that prevention has been “completely abandoned” in recent years.
“If 2017 taught us anything, it was that the main error of the current Government, and the media, was focusing on this issue only at this time,” Cabrita stated during a commentary segment on SIC Notícias.
The former minister of António Costa’s government expressed willingness to discuss wildfires in January or February, underscoring “three fundamental dimensions.”
“There’s the combat dimension. At this moment, we must show solidarity with those fighting [the fires]. There’s the prevention dimension, which has been completely ignored these two years,” he said.
He added: “These two years are, since 2017, the years with the largest burned area because that prevention issue completely disappeared from the agenda. Between 2018 and 2023, there was attention to programs like the Aldeia Segura program, community engagement programs, and village evacuation exercise creation programs.”
Eduardo Cabrita also stressed “the structural dimension,” referring to “forest reordering, changing the property model, especially in the North and Center of the country.” “This forest minifundium results from the change in the social matrix. It is absolutely indefensible.”
“There is certainly a lack of political command and government absence in the combat, but the fundamental issue lies precisely in what cannot be done in August,” he emphasized.
“We can admit some momentary disorganization”
On Tuesday, Secretary of State for Civil Protection, Rui Rocha, acknowledged that there might have been moments of “momentary disorganization” in fighting the wildfires.
“We can admit, here or at another time, for what I note, given the complexity of the operation theaters, that there might be some momentary disorganization,” the official clarified in an interview with SIC Notícias.
“Many times, the fire’s speed and propagation are much faster than the capacity to mobilize resources,” he explained, emphasizing that “all operation theaters have a command post responsible for managing resources.”
Wildfires have consumed over 172,000 hectares
This year, rural fires have consumed over 172,000 hectares so far, 32,000 between Saturday and Sunday, surpassing the burned area for the whole of 2024, according to provisional ICNF data.
Between Saturday and Sunday alone, 32,963 hectares were burned.
The burned area during this period is the second largest since 2017, when the great Pedrógão fires occurred, reaching 201,876 hectares by August 15.
It should also be noted that the fires have already caused two fatalities: Carlos Dâmaso, a former mayor of Vila Nova do Deão, died while fighting flames near a family property, and a firefighter from Covilhã, who died in an accident while heading to a fire.
