Rui André, the Monchique mayor who has led from the front throughout the current devastating fire, said that the municipality has been abandoned by government.
André attributed poor forest management as the cause for the prolongation of the fire that has been running for five days and has devastated an important area of the Monchique economy.
"We all know that poor forest management is at the root of these great fires and the difficulty of fighting them, although every year we speak about the same thing, but with little action," Rui André told the Lusa news agency.
For the mayor, Monchique this year was designated as one of the municipalities with the greatest risk of fire, yet little was done in terms of forest management apart from the actions taken by the municipality.
According to Rui André, "it is important to complement the effort in the areas of combat and surveillance with what has never got off paper and has just been talk, which is structural planning and prevention."
"Cleaning is important, but we have to do another kind of planning, both in terms of forest management and the creation of mosaics with species that can prevent and delay fire," he said.
For the mayor, the fire that has lasted five days is hugely damaging to the economy of a county, whose mostly elderly population, has the forest as its main resource."
"The fires of 2003 and 2004 were devastating for the economy and this year, the same scenario is repeated, without being able to put a stop to the fire that, inexplicably, lasted five days," said the mayor who still does not understand why the fire continues, a situation he calls "abnormal."
"At some point it seems that the firefighting resources would be sufficient, but in the meantime a series of questions have been raised concerning the inoperability of resources that did not work, for one reason or another - a situation for which I can find no explanation," he said.
Rui André added that many quality houses have been destroyed by the fire, "a number that is not yet quantified, although forecasts point to more than two dozen."
"I hope for the support of the government, obviously, because the Council does not have the capacity by itself to return to normality and to give the population new breath to carry on with their lives," concluded the mayor.
Safe Communities Portugal has the following official information for readers:
Monchique fire protection advice from the government:
http://www.safecommunitiesportugal.com/monchique-fire-protection-and-advice-from-government/
and download this .pdf file 'Safe Village Safe People - Protecting yourself against rural fires'
