Army soldiers from the Póvoa do Varzim Services School will monitor the Serra de Santa Luzia, in Viana do Castelo, until September 30, in an initiative aimed at preventing fires, the Minho municipality revealed today.
In a statement, the Câmara de Viana do Castelo said that the collaboration protocol with the Escola dos Serviços, signed today, “includes surveillance and patrol actions in Santa Luzia, in a preventive action that began in 2011”.
The protocol, in force during the critical period of forest fires, serves to safeguard the “important natural heritage” of the mountains, with daily patrols, surveillance operations and forest defense, with the collaboration of seven military personnel assigned to surveillance, said the Commander of the Services School, Carlos Guedes.
He recalled that the collaboration began 13 years ago, due to a “need identified after fires in the summer of 2005 and 2010 which, among other places, hit the Serra de Santa Luzia”.
The mayor, Luís Nobre, said that this is a “regular, relevant and fruitful” collaboration, bearing in mind that safety “is a major asset for society”.
“We take Civil Protection very seriously, especially during periods of increased promotion of events and an increase in the number of visitors,” he said.
According to the mayor, the partnership between the municipality and the Army is aimed at “a meaningful mission that has produced results after dramatic moments in the past”.
According to the municipality, rural fires “are a constant concern, especially in the Serra de Santa Luzia which, due to the growth of vegetation combined with the long period without fires, is considered one of the most critical places in the municipality”.
“The aim of the protocol is to ensure forest patrols in the Santa Luzia mountain range from a deterrent and surveillance perspective, helping to reduce the number of risky behaviors in this area, as well as reducing the time it takes to detect and respond to rural fires,” he says.
The School of Services undertakes “to make vehicles and soldiers available for surveillance operations, keeping the responsible bodies (Alto Minho Sub-Regional Emergency and Civil Protection Command and/or Viana do Castelo Sapper Fire Brigade Company) permanently informed, immediately informing them of any occurrence worthy of note”.
The municipality is responsible for “providing the material means necessary to carry out the mission, contributing to costs arising from surveillance activities, among other obligations”.