The toll from wildfires in Portugal has risen to seven, civil protection authorities has said, after three Portuguese firefighters died when their vehicle was trapped by flames.
“We regret the death of three firefighters,” the national commander of civil protection, Andre Fernandes, told reporters on Tuesday, adding that the two women and a man were killed while fighting flames near Nelas in the northern Viseu region.
Portugal is fighting over 50 active wildfires on its mainland and has mobilised around 5,300 firefighters, as well as calling for European Union help
Being a firefighter is a tough job!
Didn’t the EU supposedly set up an ad-box firefighting force that could be deployed to any EU country facing fires?
What happened to that?
> Police arrested several suspects, including two women, for setting fire to the forests on Monday, according to statements issued on Tuesday.
Why would people do this?
Oh no, I hope we’ve sent help.
The center and north of Portugal is burnings. Is complicated to breath even in the middle of the city.
High winds, low humidity, no action from the government since 2017.
And guess what will happen in 7 years? More fires, more death, no government action.
Sometimes we have huge fires but never so many at the same time and close to the ocean. There were 418 fires yesterday and 73 are still active. Strong winds from the East and 10-15% humidity in the coastline is very rare.
Yesterday multiple highways were closed, including a 100 km stretch of the main one between Lisbon and Porto. Smoke and ashes are covering many central and northern major cities for the last 48h, the sky is red and people are using masks to breathe. I don’t remember anything like this.
Our native forest is gone, replaced by highly flammable eucalyptus, driven by the paper industry and greed. Maybe this time they will do something about it and improve arson laws, but I doubt it.
All of my life forest fires have been a yearly recurring event. Every summer there are dozens of blazes. Some blame the lack of planning, most agree that desertification and abandonment of land it’s the main cause. Others blame the cellulose industry which profits of burned timber still. Many will blame political ineptitude and governmental promiscuity. Experts will say it’s due to the total lack of skill to plan the agricultural economy ahead of the climate changes. A few talking heads will point a finger to the collective compliance with politician’s and authorities absenteeism, it’s summer time after all. There’s also pyromania and malicious intent. My belief is that all these are a collection of root causes behind such reoccurrences but most of all, for me it’s also a cultural and educational problem. We portuguese are selfish and don’t care about the other nor the collective as long as we individually have what we need, and we will blame everyone else when things go south.
🇵🇹❤️
Buy 40 helicopters, equip them with thermals, patrol over forests regularly, put arsonists in jail for life – profit.
Several weeks ago in Portugal when walking along a short trail to the beach I saw a freshly lit cigarette burning on the ground, some people really want to see the world burn.
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The toll from wildfires in Portugal has risen to seven, civil protection authorities has said, after three Portuguese firefighters died when their vehicle was trapped by flames.
“We regret the death of three firefighters,” the national commander of civil protection, Andre Fernandes, told reporters on Tuesday, adding that the two women and a man were killed while fighting flames near Nelas in the northern Viseu region.
Portugal is fighting over 50 active wildfires on its mainland and has mobilised around 5,300 firefighters, as well as calling for European Union help
Being a firefighter is a tough job!
Didn’t the EU supposedly set up an ad-box firefighting force that could be deployed to any EU country facing fires?
What happened to that?
> Police arrested several suspects, including two women, for setting fire to the forests on Monday, according to statements issued on Tuesday.
Why would people do this?
Oh no, I hope we’ve sent help.
The center and north of Portugal is burnings. Is complicated to breath even in the middle of the city.
High winds, low humidity, no action from the government since 2017.
And guess what will happen in 7 years? More fires, more death, no government action.
Sometimes we have huge fires but never so many at the same time and close to the ocean. There were 418 fires yesterday and 73 are still active. Strong winds from the East and 10-15% humidity in the coastline is very rare.
Yesterday multiple highways were closed, including a 100 km stretch of the main one between Lisbon and Porto. Smoke and ashes are covering many central and northern major cities for the last 48h, the sky is red and people are using masks to breathe. I don’t remember anything like this.
Our native forest is gone, replaced by highly flammable eucalyptus, driven by the paper industry and greed. Maybe this time they will do something about it and improve arson laws, but I doubt it.
All of my life forest fires have been a yearly recurring event. Every summer there are dozens of blazes. Some blame the lack of planning, most agree that desertification and abandonment of land it’s the main cause. Others blame the cellulose industry which profits of burned timber still. Many will blame political ineptitude and governmental promiscuity. Experts will say it’s due to the total lack of skill to plan the agricultural economy ahead of the climate changes. A few talking heads will point a finger to the collective compliance with politician’s and authorities absenteeism, it’s summer time after all. There’s also pyromania and malicious intent. My belief is that all these are a collection of root causes behind such reoccurrences but most of all, for me it’s also a cultural and educational problem. We portuguese are selfish and don’t care about the other nor the collective as long as we individually have what we need, and we will blame everyone else when things go south.
🇵🇹❤️
Buy 40 helicopters, equip them with thermals, patrol over forests regularly, put arsonists in jail for life – profit.
Several weeks ago in Portugal when walking along a short trail to the beach I saw a freshly lit cigarette burning on the ground, some people really want to see the world burn.
RIP