Since the beginning of the year and until May 31st, the National Republican Guard (GNR) recorded 533 forest fire crimes, made 16 arrests and identified 131 suspects, as part of the “Safe Forest 2024” operation. .
In a statement, the guard recalls that in the same period last year it had recorded three times as many forest fire crimes, 1,790, detained more than twice as many people, 42, and identified four times as many suspects, 511.
The GNR flagged 10,252 situations of lack of land cleaning in the first five months of the year.
Leiria with 2411 was the district where the most signs were made, followed by Viseu with 1233, Coimbra with 837, Santarém 788 and Castelo Branco 711. According to GNR data, Portalegre and Évora are the districts with fewer signs, 71 and 85, respectively.
The guard carried out 17,209 patrolling actions, involving more than 43 thousand soldiers throughout the national territory. Within the scope of prevention and awareness-raising for land cleaning, the GNR carried out 4,428 awareness-raising actions in the first five months of this year, covering 76,052 people.
The actions aimed, according to the GNR, to avoid risky behavior, raise awareness of the importance of adopting self-protection measures and the correct use of fire by the community.
In the note, the GNR emphasizes that burning and burning are the main causes of fires in Portugal.
The guard reminds that the carrying out of fires, the burning of piles and bonfires is prohibited whenever there is a “very high” or “maximum” rural fire danger level, and is subject to authorization. ion or prior communication in other periods.
In “Safe Forest 2024” military personnel and forest guards from the structure of the Nature and Environmental Protection Service (SEPNA) and the Emergency Protection and Relief Unit (UEPS), both from GNR.
The deadline for forest owners and producers to clean forests and land ended on April 30th, but a joint order from the Minister of Internal Administration and the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries extended the deadline until April 31st. May.
According to the department, the deadline was extended due to the high rainfall in recent months and the high water content in the soil, which affected many of the fuel management operations and increased the rapid vegetation growth in areas already intervened.
In the case of land located in rural areas, cleaning must cover up to 50 meters from buildings, in forest areas, bushes or natural pastures.
In population clusters located in or bordering forest areas, fuel management is mandatory in an outer range of no less than 100 meters, a distance also provided for camping or industrial parks and sanitary landfills .
Municipal councils, in addition to having to be informed of fines from entities external to the municipality, can notify the owners for cleaning or, subsequently, carry out the work and be reimbursed for the expenses.
