A former mayor has been killed in “uncontrollable” wildfires in Portugal as firefighters continue to fight huge blazes and searing temperatures scorch much of southern Europe.
Nearly 4,000 firefighters have been deployed on several fire fronts in Portugal, with the government extending a state of alert until Sunday.
The government in Lisbon made a formal request for assistance from the EU’s civil protection mechanism, a firefighting force that can be called upon by countries in need
The wildfires in Portugal claimed the life of Carlos Dâmaso, a former mayor of the town of Vila Franca do Deão. He died while helping to fight a blaze, officials said. He had been reported missing, and his body was found on Friday.
Out in the boonies firefighters will all be volunteers. That’s just how the system is run. Yes, it’s bad/sad that the laddie died.
However, a useful illustration all the same. That place he was mayor of:
Vila Franca do Deão é uma povoação portuguesa sede da Freguesia de Vila Franca do Deão do Município da Guarda, freguesia com 12,99 km² de área[1] e 134 habitantes (censo de 2021)[2], tendo, por isso, uma densidade populacional de 10,3 hab./km².
It’s not large (a freguesia is a “neighbourhood” more than anything else. An area of a concelho.) nor heavily populated. It’s the boonies. And this:
The boonies have been emptying out this past century. This means fewer peasants and therefore fewer goats to eat the fire load. This is the cause of the increase in wildfires. In this sort of environment it is always – but always – hot enough and dry enough to burn in the summer. What increases what burns is how much there is to burn – the absence of goats increases the fire load.
The fires are increasing because rural Portugal got rich.
We timed our local volunteer fire brigade in Austria once. It took them six minutes from the siren going off to getting the engine on the street.
It was pretty impressive seeing all these cars screeching to a halt and guys running about. It looked just like The Sweeney.
I read that since the financial crash Spain had more than halved the budget allocated to preventing wildfires and wouldn’t be surprised if Portugal hadn’t done something similar.
Portugal has, in some ways, upped the control. You must clear all brush from 50 metres of your boundary line at the risk of significant fines. And they do come and nick people for it too. This is fairly new law, last 15 years or so too.
“Budget” isn’t wholly the thing in fire prevention.
That’s a good idea but someone’s still got to create and maintain fire breaks, pre position and main fire fighting equipment etc. As rural areas depopulate you probably need a bigger budget as fewer people to do it in their spare time on a voluntary basis.
The whole system here – even in the big cities – runs on volunteers – firemen and ambulances. You get the senior coordination bods at base being paid but not anyone actually driving etc.
Just part of the civic structure…..
Ambulances in Austria too are largely volunteer based.
Our local rural service was run by the Red Cross and primarily used 18yr olds who were not going to go into the army.
I think UK is quite an exception in having professional fire brigades and ambulance paramedics.
The volunteer fire brigade where I now live was disbanded in 1934 ( or was it 38 ) when the service was taken over by the county.
Is this kind of place a reasonable kind of second home area?
Or even first home area if you want some space? You know, do basic things like water, electricity, deliveries from a gigantic online retailer, work to acceptable levels? Can you get houses with large-ish garden amounts of land or is it all mediaeval village with six-party walls and someone else’s toilet leaking into your bedroom? Does the piano stop playing and everyone turn to stare when an incomer enters the village bar/trattoria/convenience store?
Garda? Bit more rural that you’d be comfortable with perhaps. Also, weather’s not that great. You know, by comparison.
We bought near Beja (well, Aljustrel) in a little village. 2 food serving trattorias. another couple next walkable village over, couple of coffee places. That sorta small. 1500 people maybe, the town Aljustrel is 6,000 mebbe, provincial capital is Beja, 20k.
200 m2 house, 100 m2 of outbuildings, fully detatched, 1/2 acre garden. €300k. Swimming pool.
If you go right north into Galicia that will buy you an entire ruined village. In some rural areas it would be diffiult to spend that much money. But they would be right rural.
This is in that area being talked about,. Pinhel, srota like what we’ve got, a bit. https://www.idealista.pt/imovel/33546044/
This needs work: https://www.idealista.pt/imovel/34270555/
This is the site to look at:
https://www.idealista.pt/
The real way to do this, if it’s a “second place” is work out how far away from an airport you’re willing to be (Faro, Porto, Lisbon) and search from there.
Change the weather and the architecture, and it reminds me of rural Japan.
WhenIwasbutalad our fire brigade was a volunteer outfit. In those days of fewer cars men cycled to the fire station. They were probably the only fast cyclists I ever saw because the lycra lout hadn’t been invented.
Here in Dorset the fire brigade are still sort of amateur. They get paid a small retainer to cover their one evening a week training session, and a call-out fee* when they’re used, but that’s a nice extra on top of your regular job, not a living.
* a few years ago of them had the bright idea of starting a few fires to boost his call-out income. They really don’t approve of that sort of thing.
jgh, I would move to backwater western Honshu yesterday (advantage: already 2 years, i.e. barely above rudimentary level Japanese, compared to zero Portuguese), if Mrs BiG were up for it. Getting out of Europe has to be the goal, IMO.
BiG, I rather fancy that too (Japanese wife, I have a smattering of the lingo) but the climate is very challenging for a temperate type like me. I can barely function there in the summer. Go up into the Nagano mountains to escape the summer heat (I like the Suwa-ko area: beautiful lake, Fuji visible at the end of the valley) and the fucking lake freezes in winter. They have frost fairs.
And then of course, the Next Great Tokyo Earthquake is due real soon now. Tohoku and Kamchatka have consequences.
RichardT
Terry Pratchett discussed why Ankh Morpork didn’t have a dedicated fire brigade and inn-sewer-ants was a bad idea decades ago.