Portugal has cut the number of wildfires by more than half in six years, managing to avoid around 60,000, according to the Integrated Rural Fire Management Agency, which is launching a new campaign this Wednesday to further reduce these numbers.
Following the “Portugal Chama” campaign, which ran between 2019 and 2023, the Agency for Integrated Rural Fire Management (AGIF) is launching a new campaign that will run until 2026 and supports the “Portugal Chama” brand, but intends to emphasize that “ Prevention begins” with every Portuguese person.
“Between 2019 and 2023, we avoided about 60,000 fires because that is the cumulative difference of all the fires that we estimate would have occurred if the campaigns, containment and surveillance had not been carried out,” AGIF President Luse said.
According to Tiago Oliveira, until 2019 there were an average of 20,000 fires a year in Portugal, but last year there were 7,000, meaning the number of fires was more than halved due to the adopted strategy.
The official said the first “Portugal Chama” campaign succeeded in “changing many behavior patterns of the Portuguese.”
“But there are still 7,000 fires a year, most of which are already intentional,” he stressed, stressing that now “special treatment is needed: either police work or proximity awareness work.”
The AGIF President clarified that at the moment the main cause of summer fires is arson.
“And this needs to be addressed by the police, this needs to be the subject of mental health policies, policies to reduce alcohol consumption, because we know that many fires are started by people with addiction problems and other problems of isolation and social problems.” , He said.
Thiago Oliveira explained that the new campaign will distribute materials such as pens and calendars, as well as place content on billboards, radio advertisements, newspapers and television to reach “a more specific target audience, from the elderly to the young people and even those who unintentionally use fire.” “
The new campaign also aims to raise awareness of accidental fires, especially those involving agricultural machinery.
“We managed to reduce the number of these fires by only 12%, especially in the Alentejo and Medio Tejo regions,” he explained.
On the other hand, he stressed, Portugal managed to “significantly reduce the number of fires that started with burning and burning.”
The presentation of the new campaign “Portugal Chama 2024-2026” will involve several civil protection agents such as the National Emergency Management and Civil Protection Directorate, the GNR, the Judicial Police and the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF).
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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