The Prime Minister, António Costa, said today that the country is better prepared to fight fires, but that should not diminish the responsibility of each and every one of us, to avoid risky behavior that could cause fires.
“Today, the country is better prepared from a structural point of view to fight fires, but this in no way diminishes the responsibility of everyone. The country can have all the means in the world, but now, with these weather conditions, with extreme temperatures, with a year of extreme drought, with voluminous fuel and excellent conditions for burning, any carelessness immediately triggers a huge fire”, said António Costa, who spoke to journalists before visiting the operations room of the GNR's Emergency Protection and Relief Unit (UEPS), in Coimbra.
This visit is part of a program scheduled for today, in which the prime minister also travels to the municipalities of Lousã and Viseu to check the means and resources for fighting fires on the ground, in a week that is expected to be of high temperatures.
“Today we have a more robust structure, we now have more air resources, but that does not prevent fires. These are the means to fight fires. Fires only occur if a human hand, voluntarily or inadvertently, has caused them. We are ordinary citizens and we are the ones who have to do this fundamental work to prevent fires and prevent these men and women of the bombeiros from having to act”, he stressed.
António Costa recalled that the next few days (until Sunday 17th) will be of extreme temperatures and, consequently, of high risk of fire, hence it is forbidden to make fire or use machinery in a forest areas.
Despite the confidence that the country can have and has “in those who know that they will give everything to protect it”, the Prime Minister stressed that this “cannot mean, at any time”, that one can “relax in the care” to be taken.
The prime minister made an analogy, using the pandemic situation, remembering that, in the face of covid-19, the Portuguese knew that they could count on health professionals, but that they had to take preventive measures such as the distancing or wearing a mask.
“It's the same thing here: it's not wearing a mask, it's not staying at home, but it's nobody making a fire, nobody working with agricultural machines”, he stressed.
Asked about the aerial resources available to fight fires, António Costa stressed that “it is not because of the existence of aerial resources that there are no fires”.
“There are only no fires if the human hand does not cause fires. So, what we really have to do is prevent the fire. Each of us has to take the necessary care, as we had in the pandemic, we have to do it now so as not to cause the fires that then affect everyone,” he reiterated.
According to a note from the Ministry of Internal Administration (MAI) released yesterday, July 10th, the declaration of the contingency situation was decided due to weather forecasts for the coming days, “which point to the worsening of the rural fire risk”, which mean the reinforcement of the device of the fire brigades with the contracting of up to 100 new teams, among other measures.
Due to the risk of fire, António Costa cancelled his official trip to Mozambique on Saturday, where he was scheduled to participate in the V Luso-Mozambican Summit, which would take place between today and Tuesday.
The President of the Republic also cancelled on Saturday the trip to New York, in the United States, which was supposed to take place between today and Thursday, also “due to the very high risk of forest fires”.
Source Lusa
