The National Civil Protection Commander ensures the readiness of firefighting equipment

This Sunday, the commander of the national emergency and civil defense service assured that the combat vehicle is ready to respond to large fires, but the goal is to “try to stop the fires as much as possible” when they are in their initial stages.

“What we do is try to stop and reduce as much as possible the number of fires that become widespread. [maior dimensão] and if they go to an advanced attack, we are here with a prepared device, with the technical preparation that today is required for an advanced attack,” Andre Fernandez said in an interview with Lusa.

At a time when the means of fighting rural fires are being strengthened and are reaching maximum capacity, the commander of the National Emergency Management and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC) said that “the device is prepared”, but considered that the citizen also plays an important role in adapting behavior regarding the use of fire.

“The fewer fires, the less likely it is that large fires will occur, and this is where we have also succeeded, not only through specialization, but also through the work done in prevention, but also in developing and adapting the device. But above all, the Portuguese are adapting their behavior to the situation of rural fires,” he said.

The official also emphasized that existing conditions and climate change have “slightly changed the paradigm” in which “during this critical period, there is a high probability that a minimal event can lead to a serious incident.”

Therefore, he stressed, the success of recent years is a “muscular initial attack.”

“Fires are put out when they start. We cannot allow the fire to grow, so the device is designed to suit existing conditions. The device that we have was designed and prepared for the conditions that we have on our territory, where there is still a large load of fuel,” he said, emphasizing the importance of using aviation assets along with ground ones to “stop” the fire from the very beginning.

When asked about increasing financial investment in the fight and slowing down the pace of prevention, the national commander replied that current conditions are “unfortunately still very favorable for the spread of forest fires.”

“Obviously, we also agree that there needs to be more investment in prevention, but not at the expense of reducing investment in combat. When we have a fully prepared, fire-resistant area, with the capabilities and the planning landscape mosaic fully implemented, then we can analyze the existing conditions and eventually we can reduce or adapt the apparatus, whether it is air or ground, but at the moment the existing conditions are visible to everyone and we still have a large reserve of fuel,” he noted.

Andre Fernandez believes that changes in the field of fire prevention “will take years and decades.”

The national commander also acknowledged that “it is natural that in the coming years there will be some changes in the apparatus, in particular in the air force”, emphasizing that it is necessary to introduce other types of means, but it is not yet possible to quantitatively assess whether they will be “more or less”.

“That is why the Portuguese State is going to buy two Canadairs and we have identified the need to implement what are called large, from an aviation point of view, water-dropping tanks with a higher capacity, using retardants,” he said, adding that ANEPC will work with the Air Force and with the support of the Agency for the Integrated Management of Rural Fires (AGIF) to also understand the adaptation of the existing C130s.

Andre Fernandez said the device needed to be adapted to “improve and maximise it given the reality” of climate change.

“The devices are not finished yet,” he concluded.