Portugal did not ask for European help due to the unavailability of means to fight the fires
The Civil Protection national said this Thursday that Portugal did not formally activate the European aid commander to fight the fire in Serra da Estrela due to lack of available means, due to fires in other member states.
“The mechanism was not activated because it had already been activated by other countries and the means are already engaged in other countries”, said André Fernandes, noting that the European civil protection mechanism is used according to the availability of existing means.
Also according to André Fernandes, “contacts were made with the different states” through direct Portuguese contact in Brussels, where the mechanism is headquartered.
“Other countries and therefore, given the large fires, there was no such availability,” he added.
In any case, a protocol with Spain was activated, so the fire in Serra da Estrela had “in a few days bilateral assistance with Spain with ‘canadair’ planes”.
Last week, the Prime Minister, António Costa, stressed that no more air assets were used, also coming from Europe, because “countries are now less available to share means” given that the fires take place in territories where they were rare, as in Germany, in addition to not existing in its own European media.
The first is that Portugal has mainly activated the “always available” means, unlike the means that stand out are the usual mechanisms, in which the fires of Europe exist in the South. , and in particular in countries like Portugal, or like Greece or like Spain”, there is now “a reality in which the occurrence of phenomena has been spreading”.
The European Union (EU) announced today, in a statement, that it has already mobilized this “summer, eight helicopters”, 29 planes, eight helicopters, 360 firefighters and a hundred vehicles to respond to requests for assistance across Europe under the mechanism. European. of civil protection.
The Commission added that “in addition, the EU ‘Conicus’ satellite emergency mapping service has been activated for forest fires in 46 countries” and that “about 1500 firefighters from Germany, Romania, Romania, France, Finland and to Greece in July and August for local fire detectors”.
“We are facing a difficult summer in Europe, with more than 700 thousand hectares burned so far this year, the highest figure for this time of year 2006. So far, the EU Civil Protection has been activated nine times by five countries, with a unprecedented degree of solidarity shown by EU member states”, commented the European Commissioner responsible for Crisis Management.
Portugal was one of the member states to activate the mechanism last July.
The community executive notes that member states can activate the EU civil protection mechanism to request assistance for forest fires, warning that this mechanism “strengthens the EU’s civil protection, a reserve that is mobilized when there are no other national means available. “.
The fire that broke out on August 6th in Garrocho, in the municipality of Covilhã, Castelo Branco district, was ruled out on Saturday, the 13th, but was reactivated on Monday and is currently in the aftermath.
The fire consumed a substantial part of the Serra da Estrela Natural Park, a protected natural area classified by UNESCO.