72% less burned area, compared to 2021, and “the highest rate of effectiveness in fighting fires” in the country marked another “high season” of rural fires in the Algarve, revealed this Tuesday José Luís Carneiro, minister of Internal Administration, on the sidelines of a balance sheet of the Algarve Seguro 2022 operation, which took place in Faro.
According to the member of the Government, «98% of the fires that occurred this year in the Algarve were controlled in less than 90 minutes», that is, within the initial attack window.
This in a universe of 209 fires, which caused a total of 2075 hectares of burned area.
Of all the fires that took place, only two reached major proportions, the of Gambelas (Faro), which plowed from the 12th to the 14th of July, and the of São Marcos da Serra (Silves), which took place on the 25th and 26th of the same month.
These two occurrences alone were responsible for «98,7% of the burned area in the Algarve», according to Vítor Vaz Pinto, commander of the regional emergency and civil protection authority.
The two fires, having exceeded XNUMX hectares of affected area, «are part of a set of ten percent of the fires that occurred at national level that are being evaluated, in order to try to understand what happened, with a view to improving and learn from them", according to the minister.
Still regarding the balance of fires in the Algarve region, made by Vaz Pinto, there were “469 occurrences, 30 less than in 2021”, and “July was the month with the most occurrences, more fires and with more affected area”.
«The main causes of fire in the Algarve are the burning of leftovers that get out of control, followed by arson», concluded Vaz Pinto.
At the session, representatives of the GNR and PSP also gave testimony, who made a positive assessment of the summer operation, which they considered "challenging" due to the strong tourist demand and the large number of events that took place in the Algarve region, as well as the National Authority of Road Safety (ANSR) and the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF).
The minister highlighted the cooperation that existed between the SEF and the PSP, in the control of passengers at the Airport of Faro, under a contingency plan that allowed 2022 “to have been one of the few years in which we managed to overcome serious constraints that had been occurring”.
According to Paulo Nicolau, regional director of the SEF in the Algarve, more than 4 million passengers have been checked since January, around 2 million of them between July and October.
In the case of ANSR, the national director of this entity revealed that, in the Algarve and between the 1st of July and the 31st of August, there was a 9,5% reduction in the number of accidents, compared to the same period in 2019.
Victims, which are divided into serious injuries and deaths, also dropped by 15,5% in the same period.
Furthermore, José Luís Carneiro pointed out, «the data from all the security forces and services show that there was great effectiveness and efficiency in the use of means».
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