At the 150th anniversary ceremony of the Royal Humanitarian Association of Volunteer Firefighters of Porto, Rui Rocha stated that the government aims to present a proposal for revising the organic law of the National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection by the end of the year to be effective “starting next year.”
The official mentioned that the government has its vision and idea for this matter but is listening and gathering all contributions, focusing currently on the firefighting device.
Regarding firefighting, Rui Rocha acknowledged that “not everything has gone well,” highlighting the importance of focusing on prevention.
“This government has recently presented and approved the forestry law, which is a structural task that will take several years,” he emphasized.
The Secretary of State also noted that this year the country faced severe weather conditions, including high temperatures, tropical nights, strong winds, and zero humidity, which made firefighting efforts more challenging.
“I want to highlight that the entire device has been providing an excellent response in terms of the success rate in the first intervention. The first intervention is the device’s ability to tackle fires within the first 90 minutes, and we have a success rate of 93%,” he stated.
Rui Rocha assured that the government would evaluate what did not go well in due time and will make corrections if needed.
Mainland Portugal has been affected by several large-scale rural fires since July, especially in the northern and central regions.
The fires resulted in four deaths, including a firefighter, and several injuries, and they completely or partially destroyed primary and secondary homes, as well as agricultural holdings and forested areas.
According to provisional official data, about 252,000 hectares have burned in the country by August 29.
