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