Portugal’s forest fires burn a third more area than last decade’s average
9 September 2022
Published by: https://www.euractiv.com
PORTUGAL – Forest fires consumed more than 106,500 hectares in Portugal this year, making it the fourth highest amount of burnt area in the last 10 years, 36% above average, revealed the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF) on Wednesday.
The latest ICNF report indicates that, between 1 January and 31 August, 9,701 rural fires resulted in 106,639 hectares (ha) of burnt area, between settlements (54,328 ha), bushland (42,367 ha) and agricultural land (9,944 ha).
“Comparing the figures for 2022 with those of the previous 10 years, it is noted that there were 15% less rural fires and 36% more burnt areas than the annual average for the last 10 years,” the document states.
Provisional data shows that the years with the most burnt area in the last decade were 2017 (236,485 ha), 2013 (130,393 ha), and 2016 (128,515 ha).
According to ICNF, the largest number of fires broke out in the districts of Porto (2,294), Braga (1,066) and Vila Real (830) and were “mostly small” not exceeding one hectare of burnt area, but the district most affected was Guarda, with 24,773 hectares, representing more than 23% of the total area burnt until 31 August.
The biggest fire to date was the one that started on 6 August in the Covilhã municipality, which reached the Serra da Estrela area over 11 days, having consumed 24,334 hectares of forest, followed by the fire in the municipality of Murça (Vila Real) which in July caused 7,184 hectares of burnt area.
According to the document, July is the month with the greatest number of rural fires, with a total of 2,745 fires, which corresponds to 28% of the total number registered this year and is also the month with the greatest burnt area, 49,888 hectares, which represents 47% of the total.
The biggest fire to date was the one that started on 6 August in the Covilhã municipality, which raged through the Serra da Estrela area for 11 days, consuming 24,334 hectares of forest.
A quarter of rural fires recorded this year were caused by arson, being the second most frequent cause after land clearance and burning, according to the report of the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF).
The ICNF said that so far, arson was responsible for 25% of the total.
