The Municipal Commission for the Defense of Forests Against Fires of the Municipality of Loulé met on the 16th of November at the premises of the Municipal Civil Protection, Security and Forestry Service to take stock of the period of rural fires in the municipality.
This year was marked by the largest burned area in this territory since 2004 due to the fire that broke out in Gambelas, in the municipality of Faro, on the 13th of July, and spread with «great intensity and seriousness» to the municipality of Loulé.
The meeting discussed the various presentations on the work carried out at the municipal level and the results achieved, from the planning stage, public awareness and information, prevention, surveillance and fighting of rural fires and even the normal surveillance carried out by the Municipal Service of Civil Protection, together with parish councils and hunter associations and clubs.
According to the municipality, there was also reinforcement during the period in which a contingency situation was decreed, in order to increase the commitment of the operators on the ground.
On the other hand, this year the Autarchy strengthened its device through the inauguration of the Loulé Advanced Civil Protection Unit, a structure located to support and reinforce the defense of the forest against rural fires in Serra do Caldeirão.
For the first time, between the 20th of June and the 2nd of October, two elements of the GNR cavalry detachment carried out daily forest patrols between the parishes of Salir and Ameixial, thus also contributing to the prevention of fires.
According to municipal officials, «it is necessary to be aware that the increase in temperatures and climate change increase the occurrence of extreme natural phenomena more and more frequently».
In this sense, "the Municipality continues to work and develop its strategy to minimize the effects of rural fires, for the safety and safeguard of populations and the maintenance of biodiversity", reads in a note.
Members of the Municipal Commission for Civil Protection and the entities that make up the operational meetings for the defense of forests against fires, held every two weeks between 1 July and 30 September, were present at this moment of analysis and balance sheet, a special operational period for combating rural fires.
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