The headquarters of AVIPG, located in the former primary school of Figueira in the Graça parish (Pedrógão Grande), will open at 2:30 PM. This will be followed by a gathering at 5:00 PM near the Memorial to the Victims of the 2017 Fires, where a wreath will be placed.
A mass is scheduled to take place at 6:30 PM at the Igreja Matriz da Graça.
On the 22nd, the “Renascer 17.06.2017” walk will take place.
The Leiria Region Intermunicipal Community announced that local mayors would participate in the association’s initiatives, including the laying of a wreath at the site and preparing the monument for the occasion.
The memorial, located next to National Road (EN) 236-1 in the Pobrais area of Pedrógão Grande, was inaugurated on June 15, 2023. It bears the names of the 115 victims who died in the fires that year.
The National Flag was raised at the memorial on June 9 of the following year as part of the Portugal Day celebrations, centered at that time in Pedrógão Grande, Castanheira de Pera, and Figueiró dos Vinhos in northern Leiria district, the municipalities most affected by the June 2017 fires.
The flag was presented to AVIPG on Portugal Day.
The fires that broke out on June 17, 2017, in Pedrógão Grande and spread to neighboring municipalities resulted in 66 fatalities and injured 253 people, seven seriously. The blazes destroyed approximately 500 homes and 50 businesses.
In October of the same year, fires in the Central region caused 49 deaths and about 70 injuries, with the destruction or partial destruction of around 1,500 homes and more than 500 businesses.
The judicial process concerning the deaths in the Pedrógão Grande fires is awaiting a decision from the Coimbra Court of Appeal, following several appeals after the acquittal of all defendants in September 2022 in the Leiria Judiciary Court.
In this case, the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) reported that 63 deaths and 44 injuries sought criminal proceedings.
On trial were the commander of the Pedrógão Grande Volunteer Firefighters, Augusto Arnaut, who was responsible for rescue operations; two employees from the former EDP Distribuição (now E-REDES), José Geria and Casimiro Pedro; and three workers from Ascendi (Rogério Mota, José Revés, and Ugo Berardinelli).
The Lousã-Pedrógão medium voltage line, which the MP alleged was the source of electrical discharges that triggered the fires, was under the company’s responsibility.
The Pinhal Interior road sub-concession, which included EN 236-1, was awarded to Ascendi Pinhal Interior, which was responsible for fuel management.
Former mayors of Castanheira de Pera and Pedrógão Grande, Fernando Lopes and Valdemar Alves, respectively, were also accused.
The mayor of Figueiró dos Vinhos, Jorge Abreu, as well as the former vice-president of Pedrógão Grande José Graça and the former head of the Forestry Office of this municipality, Margarida Gonçalves, were also among the defendants.
Another judicial case regarding the reconstruction of homes in Pedrógão Grande following the fires has returned to the first instance for the application of determined penalties after various appeals.
In this case, 14 defendants, including Valdemar Alves and former councilor Bruno Gomes, and applicants for the reconstruction of properties as if they were primary residences, their relatives, or employees from the Finance Department and parish council, were sentenced to suspended sentences. Payments to various entities for civil claims were also mandated.
