Preliminary study confirms perennial scourge
Over a third of the forest fires recorded this year were caused by arson, minister of internal affairs Margarida Blasco confirmed today, revealing that almost 50,000 hectares burned in the Viseu district alone.
Addressing the parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees, Ms Blasco told MPs that there is currently “a preliminary survey of how arson offences were committed and by whom”.
According to the survey, 35% of fires recorded this year up until two days ago were caused by arson and responsible for 79,118 hectares of burnt area.
In addition, 28% of the fires, which totalled 20,950 hectares, were caused by burnings (illegal during the summer months, but still undertaken by certain landowners); 15% were accidental and 9% were reignitions.
The district with the highest number of forest fires this year was Porto, with a total of 1,390.
Ms Blasco added that Viseu had the largest burnt area, 49,558 hectares, followed by Aveiro (around 27,000 hectares) and Porto (20,217 hectares).
“This is provisional data that is still being pre-validated in the sense of full confirmation,” she said, noting that, given this data, “we intend to investigate to see in what terms these figures exist, what the intention was, whether it was intentional or negligent”.
In this regard, the minister also said that a multidisciplinary team has been set up, including the PSP and GNR, which carry out outreach and surveillance actions, with the Judicial Police.
At the hearing requested by the PS and PCP, Margarida Blasco did not give a figure for the total area burnt this year.
According to the European Copernicus system, forest fires in the third week of September alone consumed around 135,000 hectares, bringing the area burnt this year in Portugal to almost 147,000 hectares, the third largest in a decade.
Every year the country suffers forest fires – the areas interchanging – and always the scourge of arson is prevalent, hence the prime minister’s ‘declarations’ last month.
Source material: LUSA
