On Tuesday, the defence minister highlighted the role of the armed forces in preventing and detecting rural fires after observing a patrol in the national forest in Marinha Grande.
“The military does not sit in barracks, they work every day for the benefit of the population. This concerns fire prevention, as well as search and rescue operations, emergency medical care, organ transportation, the fight against human trafficking, or the fight against drug trafficking,” Nuno Melo told reporters.
According to the Minister of Defense, “the Armed Forces are always nearby and this is very important.”
Nuno Melo explained that the military’s role is to “detect fires in collaboration with the Institute for Nature and Forest Conservation.” [ICNF]together with other organizations, so that this mission can be more effective in a clearly formulated form”, so that at the end of the fire season “they do not happen”.
And if they did not happen, it was because “there was prevention, and this prevention requires a lot of work, requires a lot of investment and a lot of coordinated efforts.”
According to the data provided, the forest area is monitored by 32 patrols supporting the MCAS. “We also have engineering units that are necessary to shape the terrain so that firefighters can fight the fire itself. In addition, we have platoons that carry out the liquidation of consequences, surveillance and prevention of possible re-ignitions,” explained Colonel Thiago Lopes, commander of the MCAS.
Nuno Melo stressed that his presence in one of the patrols is a way of showing the Portuguese that “the military in peacetime carries out many tasks for the daily benefit of the population, and among these tasks is fire prevention.”
“And when there are no fires in Portugal, it is often precisely because the armed forces, along with other organizations, are committed to these actions, which are of fundamental importance,” the government official emphasized.
With the protocol with nine municipalities (Braga, Boticas, Loulé, Mafra, Monchique, São Bras de Alportel, Sintra, Tavira and Viana do Castelo), Nuno Melo devalues the small number of municipalities that have an agreement with the army.
“I would not say that it is very short, if we take into account that the military is in the most critical areas. The risk of fire occurs at the national level, but there are places where the risk is greater than others, and the military is certainly in the points of highest risk and makes its contribution,” he said, assuring that the Armed Forces “by vocation and nature” are “ready for everything for which they can be useful when they are called upon.”
Since May 15, when the armed forces participated in the Plan to Support the Special Device for Combating Rural Fires (DECIR), 659 patrols have been carried out to monitor the country’s territory, covering 86 thousand kilometers, with a total of 1,500 soldiers involved.
Faced with complaints from professional military associations, Nuno Melo reiterated that his Secretary of State, Alvaro Castelo Branco, had accepted and listened to them, “they presented specifications,” and “some of these proposals were taken into account and in the end there were many improvements.”
“That’s why they were heard [associações]. Moreover, they were listened to. It is important that everyone is taken into account, because everyone is absolutely necessary. And I am very pleased that these were also very honest victories for the security forces,” he concluded.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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