The Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, dismissed the immediate need for international assistance to combat fires across the country on Wednesday.
Speaking to CNN Portugal in Faro, Montenegro stated regarding a potential request for international help: “When necessary, when circumstances motivate it, we will do it. This follows technical and operational criteria that must be met.”
With about three thousand firefighters battling the active and resolving fires, as explained by Civil Protection in the late afternoon, Montenegro addressed the future request: “We have no objection to doing it when it needs to be done; but we will not do it when it is not technically appropriate.”
In the same statement, the Prime Minister also mentioned that Portugal “has all available means” and that every possible effort was being made. “We have all available means, we are making our maximum possible effort. We have monitoring that will not leave anyone alone. We do not have unlimited resources,” he reiterated.
The seven fires and the two days that are “most concerning”
According to the Civil Protection report at 7 p.m., seven occurrences were of “major concern,” including Sirarelhos (Vila Real), Trancoso (Beiras e Serra da Estrela, Chavães (Tabuaço), Vila Boa (Sátão), Arganil, Vila Chã de Sá (Viseu), and Quirás (Bragança).
The statements made by Montenegro this evening came after a meeting with the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. During the meeting, Montenegro did not comment on the firefighting efforts, but Marcelo addressed the situation, considering that Friday “is a particularly worrying day” and “could point to a situation prone to continuation and worsening of fires.”
The Portuguese Institute of Sea and Atmosphere ‘confirmed’ the information, stating that both Thursday and Friday temperatures would remain high with strong winds in the Interior.
Temperatures in the Interior will remain very high on Thursday and Friday, accompanied by winds from the southern quadrant, sometimes with high intensity, increasing the risk of fire in those regions, according to IPMA.
Lusa | 20:33 – 13/08/2025
“Both the Prime Minister and I have been closely monitoring the situation with the fires, and we all acknowledge in Portugal that the meteorological conditions have worsened over the past three weeks, at the end of July and beginning of August, and continue to do so. It’s necessary to convey this truth to the Portuguese,” Marcelo stated alongside Montenegro, also highlighting that the country’s meteorological conditions are “shared” with other European countries, citing Spain as an example. Meanwhile, the neighboring country resorted to the European Union’s assistance mechanism tonight to combat multiple fires, requesting “two Canadair aircraft.”
Spain resorted to the EU’s assistance mechanism tonight to combat multiple fires, requesting “two Canadair aircraft,” announced the Spanish Interior Minister.
Lusa | 22:47 – 13/08/2025
Later, the Head of State “thanked” that the issue had never been an “argument” in election years, in an apparent jab at presidential candidate Henrique Gouveia e Melo, who hours earlier published a video on the fires and criticized the state’s actions, also mentioning the ‘Canadair’ planes grounded this week: “When I saw that the three ‘Canadians’ were inoperative, I felt completely embarrassed – as a state agent, as a Portuguese, because this is the collapse of the organization.”
Gouveia e Melo also referred to the 2017 fires, not being the only one to bring up this example during these days when forest fires have had significant impact. However, regarding these comparisons, and without naming anyone, Marcelo said: “But let’s compare with 2017. There’s no comparison […]. Suffice to say this: in June [2017], there were several dozen deaths, over a short period compared to this last few weeks. Adding up the fires of June and October, we have more than a hundred deaths. It has been possible, so far, to preserve human life and preserve, as much as possible, the populations.”
[Updated at 22:53]
