The Portuguese Army will ensure patrolling and surveillance of rural areas and the mountains of the municipality of Loulé during the critical period of defense of the forest against fire.
Loulé City Council and the Army signed, for the fourth consecutive year, a protocol aimed at patrolling and surveillance within the scope of the Municipal Strategy for the Defense of the Forest against Fire, a partnership that has «revealed as an excellent practice in terms of protection preventive civil service', according to the municipality.
«The presence of the military will be noticed, essentially, in the parishes in the interior of the Municipality of Loulé, taking into account that 40% of the total of these areas correspond to classes of very high forest hazard, which include the Protected Landscape areas of Rocha da Pena and Fonte Benémola, with about 54% of the municipal territory being covered by the Natura 2000 Network”, added the Loulé Chamber.
The military patrol will be carried out daily by three soldiers, aboard a 4×4 vehicle, which will carry out “an average of 140 kilometers per day”.
The military will be present "during the critical period of forest fire, in order to reduce the probability of its occurrence, thus reinforcing the safety of populations and deterring negligent behavior".
In addition to the Portuguese Army, the municipality's Patrol and Surveillance Device also constitutes the municipal teams of forestry intervention from the Municipal Civil Protection Service, the Youth Volunteer Brigades, the Guarda Nacional Republicana, the forestry sapper team of the Association of Forest Producers da Serra do Caldeirão and the nature watchers of the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests that operate in the Ria Formosa area. There are also two watchtowers in the Municipality of Loulé (Zebro and Malhão), both in the parish of Salir.
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