The GNR’s Safe Forest Campaign 2025 commenced on February 1 and will continue until November 30. A specific period for identifying lands lacking fuel management is set from February 16 to April 30.
The schedule for inspection activities is still pending, with authorities awaiting a joint order from the government officials responsible for protection areas, as stated by the GNR.
Preliminary data from the GNR reveal that between February 16 and March 20, 7,192 plots of land have been flagged across Portugal’s 18 mainland districts.
Leiria leads with 1,878 flagged plots, followed by Santarém with 828, and Coimbra with 610.
The districts with the fewest flagged plots are Évora (18), Portalegre (26), and Porto (124).
In other districts: Castelo Branco has 548 plots flagged, Braga 532, Viseu 491, Bragança 394, Aveiro 344, Viana do Castelo 267, Vila Real 244, Setúbal 188, Beja 187, Lisbon 182, Guarda 166, and Faro 165.
During the Safe Forest Campaign 2024, there were 7,237 awareness actions reaching 115,568 citizens, according to the GNR.
Last year, 10,256 flags were raised, along with 2,233 infractions reported for lack of fuel management and 3,028 for other violations.
This marks the lowest number of fines for fuel management neglect in the past six years.
GNR’s website reports 2,577 infractions for fuel management neglect in 2023, 2,271 in 2022, and 3,176 in 2021. The highest number was recorded in 2019, with 6,866 infractions.
Until November 30, the GNR plans to conduct various awareness and monitoring activities, inspection operations, rural fire (IR) surveillance and detection, investigation into arson causes, and validation of burned areas. These initiatives aim to prevent, detect, combat, and curb illicit activities, ensuring the safety of people, their assets, and the conservation of forest heritage under the annual Safe Forest campaign.
This campaign emphasizes preventive and disciplinary actions, enhancing the area’s resilience against fires, ensuring population safety, and promoting the sustainability of national forest heritage.
