140 Portuguese Joint Task Force operatives deployed to support Canadian firefighters in fighting the wave of fires that have ravaged the Canadian region of Quebec for several weeks are already on the ground. There are more than 400 active outbreaks that have already destroyed more than 5 million hectares of forest – for comparison, last year 881 thousand hectares burned in Europe, 112 thousand hectares in Portugal. “They are out of control. Out of control,” Fabrice Mosset, a French commander who, like the Portuguese contingent, is in the fighting, told The New York Times. But the tactics being used are already causing problems, with European firefighters wondering why the initial attack on these fires was not launched. The differences in terms of fighting are due to the size of the affected area – three times the size of France – and the low population density in this region, where the flames spread hundreds of kilometers without affecting settlements.