Forest fires in Portugal

international | environment | news report

Monday August 22, 2005 18:38

by prometheus

All of County Louth measures 82,613 hectares.

Fires have burnt at least 134,500 hectares (337,000 acres) of Portuguese forest from July to August, more than in all of 2004, according to forestry service estimates last week.

2,700 firefighters were battling 35 fires on Sunday afternoon. Neighbouring Galicia in Spain wants to be declared a disaster area as well, as of this morning 17 fires were still burning 6 of them considered critical. In august alone 17,000 hectares have been burnt.

The fires began to go out of control in Portugal in July, when the motorways to the north were cut off.

Since then drought has brought both Portugal and Galicia to disaster. To help your imagination for a moment, Galicia is the only place in the world where you may find dolmens in pine forests.

Or rather where you could find dolmens in pine forests, they have burnt now.

& that change to the landscape is a disaster which could have been avoided. That means the building of barriers, the monitoring of forests and seasonal reduction of access to those forests, such as was the Spanish response to teh fires of Guadalajara in mid July which killed 11 residents and destroyed an area of 19,000 hectares in less than a week.
(County Dun Laoighaire and Rathdown is measure 12731 hectares in area)

So since August 1, Galicia the little land of 3 million people has seen an area larger than Dun Laoighaire and rathdown burnt. These figures are repeated in Italy, where sardinia (population 2 million) has lost an area the size of county Limerick. Sicily as well, Greece as well....

The Mediterranean climate supports on its northern side forests, mostly of pine which cover the mountain ranges, once they are burnt, the temperature of the ground rises, the moisture decreases and remarkably soon you get desert.

just like the south of the mediterranean.

Last week Portugal asked for EU assistance.

the European comission this weekend organised the loan of other state's equipment to assist Portugal.

Germany will send three "Super Puma" police helicopters to arrive with up to 25 officers on Monday.

Two planes from Spain, which has also suffered more forest fires than any other year and severe drought, started work in neighbouring Portugal early on Sunday.

Italy is to send a Canadair CL 415 water bombardier aircraft, the same model sent by France, later on Sunday. It is due to arrive in Portugal early on Monday.

Last summer and the two years before an area the size of Portugal was lost in Southern Europe to forest fires the vast majority of which are started deliberately or by negligent human hands.

Tourists. Cigarette Smokers. Unscrupulous land-owners seeking to speculate. Arsonists.
& of course Drought.

The damage to life, livelihood, and environment will not quickly be repaired. Considered with Climate Change and the lessening seasonal availability of water in Mediterranean countries, we are witnessing a fundamental change in the landscape, and of the ecosystems and food production land may support.

Fire fighters are not all professionals, in fact many are precarious workers without training.

There have been numerous deaths through the summer as the landscape has changed.

the majority of forests burnt are pine.

Forest fires 1998-2002, based on satellite observations:
http://dataservice.eea.eu.int/atlas/viewdata/viewpub.asp?id=788

Ireland hasn't sent anything, this is because the evil engurlish took our forests away to make boats with them, and left our dolmens on infertile limestone naked to the skies.

But if we had properly freed ourselves from the yoke of british imperialism, we would be able to help the portuguese in this moment of their need and lend them fire extinguishers.

We should thus put proper diplomatic pressure on the evil engurlish to do something now.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/22/europe/web.0822lisbon.php
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L22303384.htm
http://pt.indymedia.org/ler.php?numero=63558&cidade=1
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/08/22/portugal.fires/
http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/inicio/noticia.jsp?CAT=126&TEXTO=100000075214
http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/se_galicia/noticia.jsp?CAT=102&TEXTO=100000075205

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Comments (2 of 2)

one thing I couldn't help noticing.

by iosaf

Thu Aug 25, 2005 14:54

(the fires in Portugal & Galicia are under control now thanks to first thick fog then rain which came from the Atlantic in the last 24 hours)

Back in july, in the comments to the Sunday Papers Fatwa edition, (the one which wasn't published on a sunday preceded by a few hours the failed bombings of London july 21)
I issued a personal fatwa against forest fires, because that night I noticed the aircraft those Canadair things fly over head to deal with a fire on 70 hectares of pine forest nearby.

That fire destroyed 37 hectares in 5 hours. I remember telling you that Stephens Green in dublin is a park of 9 hectares. (the area of fire was 4 times the size of stephens green) & what I couldn't help noting was that that little fire, which saw a village evacuated and 8 houses destroyed was fought by 45 fire brigade units and 21 aircraft saving almost a half of the threatened area.
Of those 21 aircraft half were canadair and half were helicopters.

The EU responded to the portuguese pleas for assistance by sending - 7 canadairs and 3 helicopters. for 80,000 hectares. The area of land was over 7,000 times the size of Stephens green.
The Portuguese were criticised throughout europe for not building barriers in their forests or planting different kinds of tree, the sort of criticism that comes from those "interested" in more profitable land management. & counted on 14 aircraft in total and 2,260 fire fighters, of whom more than a thousand were volunteers and less than 60 had been lent by the EU.

Wow eh?

And now the human mystery.

One madrid youth (23 years old) has been arrested for the suspected arson of a forest in Galicia of 20 hectares this last week.
There are now 17 people arrested in relation to arson cases this summer in Galicia in just one province of Ourense.

and in Portugal the authorities have rounded up 115 arsonists, (that means they locked up every portuguese with a history of pyromania).

& in the end, the Fog came and stopped it all.

but not before 14 people died.

got worse since writing.

by -

Tue Aug 23, 2005 14:03

there are now 26 fires in Galicia 8 out of control. and 8 of the fires in Portugal are now out of control.

the Portuguese prime minister Socrates, has confirmed that Portugal will be seeking Solidarity funds from Europe, as the material damage so far registered exceeds 0.6% of gross national income at 3 billion€.

The last person reported as dying was a 88year old alzheimers sufferer whose charred remains were found today on the outskirts of Coimbra city the focus of uncontrolled fires.

Climate change has also registered in europe this last week in the form of flooding, with many people losing their homes but loss of life is much lower.

"we'll all be using different types of car soon enough":- G.W. Bush pre G8 comments on global warming. yep. we will, floatable cars made of asbestos running on a teaspoon of cod liver oil.

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Forest fires in Portugal

Comments (2 of 2)