Ponte da Barca, Viana do Castelo, Portugal, Sept. 3, 2025 (Lusa) - The speaker of the Portuguese parliament, José Pedro Aguiar Branco, argued on Wednesday that we need to put forest fire prevention "into practice" by implementing the measures set out in the reports produced after the 2017 and 2022 fires.
"It's everyone's responsibility, the government's and the Parliament's, to look at the reports that already exist and do what is planned on the ground so that we reach a greater level of effectiveness. We need to put this into practice (...) The evidence shows that not as much has been done as needed to be done," he told journalists.
Aguiar Branco, who was speaking in the village of Ermida, in Ponte da Barca, one of the areas of the Peneda Gerês National Park in the north of Portugal most affected by the wildfires in July, said that the aim of his visit is to "put the issue of prevention back on the media agenda" so that when it comes to fighting fires on the ground, the job will be easier.
"While it's important that there are measures aimed at both prevention and fighting, we know that there are reports that have been produced in the past, whether in 2017 or 2022, which have already pointed out the risks and recommendations in terms of prevention to make fighting more effective."
Regarding support for the people that suffered damage in the Ponte da Barca fire, José Pedro Aguiar Branco said he hoped it would arrive "more quickly and more effectively".
Before visiting the villages of Ermida and Cidadelhe, in the parish of Lindoso, Aguiar Branco met with the mayor of Ponte da Barca, Augusto Marinho, who alerted him to the need to "look more carefully at issues related to land registry and land-use planning in terms of prevention".
The speaker of parliament said that the visit to the area affected by the fires in the municipality of Ponte da Barca, in which the MPs elected by the Viana do Castelo constituency participated, was a "symbolic" way of showing solidarity with the mayors, the forces that fought the fires and the local population".
"When there's a media moment, a lot of attention is paid to these kinds of problems, as serious as those experienced in Ponte da Barca, but then the media agenda passes and it seems that the problems no longer exist, everything is forgotten," he observed.
The fire, which broke out on 26 July in Ponte da Barca and was declared contained a week later, affected a total area of 7,550 hectares, with the area of the Peneda Gerês National Park (PNPG) burnt being 5,786 hectares, according to a survey that is not yet definitive.
The PNPG covers an area of 69,596 hectares and encompasses the regions of Braga (municipality of Terras de Bouro), Viana do Castelo (districts of Melgaço, Arcos de Valdevez and Ponte da Barca) and Vila Real (municipality of Montalegre).
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