A new structure created to better tackle the risks of rural fires is being presented in Leiria today – the idea being that it can get to grips with the hundreds of thousands of fallen trees that litter forested areas following the winter ‘carousel of storms’.
The main priorities of the Integrated Prevention and Operations Command (CIPO) will be to remove accumulated combustible material from forested areas, clean ‘critical areas’, reopen paths and generally improve access.
CIPO will be housed in Leiria’s civil protection advanced command centre.
As Lusa explains, the government aims to reduce fire risk before summer through this structure, which involves the interior, national defence, and agriculture and maritime affairs ministries.
Local authorities, the Armed Forces, civil protection structures, firefighters, sappers and forestry companies will attend today’s presentation.
A notice about the event stresses that CIPO’s brief is to “strengthen planning, anticipation, intervention and risk control capacity, with resources on the ground and permanent coordination.”
In the words of the interior ministry, the country faces “very demanding times regarding territory protection and population safety.”
The storms of late January/ early February left a “massive and highly dangerous accumulation of combustible material across a large area,” exponentially increasing this year’s fire risk.
The country faces a “scenario requiring preparation, coordination and execution capacity,” says the ministry – calling it an extraordinary situation requiring “extraordinary responses”.
CIPO includes the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC) for operational coordination, the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF) for technical guidance and forest management, and the Agency for the Integrated Management of Rural Fires (AGIF) for monitoring and evaluation.
The GNR (National Republican Guard), the Armed Forces, and a liaison officer from the Portuguese Firefighters League also form part of the structure.
This new structure will work in permanent coordination with local councils, firefighters, forestry sappers and local entities.
Lusa’s report today has not explained how firefighters have welcomed the new structure. Sources have stressed that there is so much in the form of ‘forest clearing’ to do, that it will be incredibly difficult to have the whole country fully prepared before the start of the ‘fire season’ in July.
source material: LUSA
