Hugo Delgado / LUSA
The Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, greets firefighters
“If we have many more vehicles, trail machines, more teams and availability, we cannot settle for the same result.”
O bad weather that affected Portugal in January increased risk of fires next summer, especially in the Leiria and interior pine forest regions.
Akli Benali, a researcher at the Center for Forest Studies, warned: “There are two dangers: the problem of forest accesses that need to be cleaned and the impact within the stands”.
“Access is a relatively simple problem to solve: what is needed is to put machines on the ground and clear the way” and then, “all the biomass that is blocking the passage is swept under the carpet, to the edges of the paths”, he explained, last week.
However, the “other danger is all the biomass that fell into forest stands and we are to increase the fuel load which could be a problem if a fire occurs”.
Furthermore, recent heavy rains saturated os solos and may pose an increased risk.
Prime Minister’s Warnings
This Monday, the Prime Minister warned that with the reinforcement of resources from the Special Rural Fire Fighting Device (DECIR) 2026 there must be better results in fighting fires.
“If we have many more vehicles, trail machines, more teams and availability, we cannot settle for the same result or worse results. We want better results. Investments must have this return”, said Luís Montenegro during the presentation, in Ponte da Barca, Viana do Castelo, of DECIR for this year.
The head of government insisted that the watchword in a situation of “doubt” is “resolver”.
“And if one day in a given operation in a given operational context, there are doubts that some order is missing, the order we want to give is to move forward.”
“Stop bureaucracies and technocracies because the people do not deserve to wait for an answer just because you need to interpret a comma or a paragraph on a given rule. No”, highlighted the head of the executive in a ceremony that was also attended by the ministers of Defense, Internal Administration, Environment and Agriculture and Sea.
According to Luís Montenegro, “the public interest is always at the forefront” and that “the watchword is to resolve, not to wait”. “It’s not enough to show numbers, we have to show results. The only concern is people, property, regardless of where the risks are”, he highlighted.
In the presentation of DECIR 2026, the government official said he chose Ponte da Barca to present the device because, in 2025, it was a municipality heavily affected by fires.
“We are here to signal that we are not distracted, that we are not inattentive, that prevention is always the best way to avoid catastrophes or at least the negative dimension of a catastrophe. This device was approved in advance to have all the conditions to be implemented in full size”, he said.
New regime
The Minister of Internal Administration, Luís Neves, who has been in office for a week, soon announced the approval, by parliament, of a regime for integrated landscape management areas, which provides for the removal of woody material until June 1st and the material is placed on the market”.
“We have thousands of hectares of woody material felled by storms. If it is not removed quickly, it turns into fuel, so we changed the legal framework. It was approved in Parliament and is awaiting promulgation,” he said.
It is, according to Luís Neves, “a regime temporary which allows rapid intervention in the municipalities covered by the declaration of calamity”.
He added that “the cutting, removal and transportation of woody material must take place until June 1stin the direct intervention of the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF), when the owners do not act.” “In the use of simplified contracting in situations of absolutely urgent urgency. Finally, placing the material on the market with compensation mechanisms”, he highlighted.
The resources involved this year in fighting rural fires will have a slight increase compared to 2025, with a total of 15,149 operational resources and 81 aerial resources planned for the most critical months.
The means are provided for in the National Operational Directive (DON) that establishes the Special Device for Combating Rural Fires (DECIR) for this year, to which Lusa had access, and which was approved at the meeting of the National Civil Protection Commission chaired by the new Minister of Internal Administration, Luís Neves.
According to the directive, the terrestrial device will have the availability of 15,149 operational personnel, 2,596 teams, 3,463 vehicles and 81 aerial assets during the period of greatest resource commitment, between July 1st and September 30th, called ‘Delta level’.
