The Portuguese government has come up with a six-point plan to deal with forest fires which, it said, are now a permanent risk.
Among the proposals are the creation of a professional fire-fighting force, the purchase or leasing of aircraft helicopters and the setting up of a centralised command to fight and monitor the fires.
Interior minister Antonio Costa has told parliament that a permanent risk demands permanent measures.
And Fernando Curto, head of the national association of fire-fighters, said the measures would improve the fight against fires. “They are structural measures that are likely to be supportive and could help in other situations as well,” he said.
In the past three years nearly 1.16 million acres have been lost to forest fires and experts say if the damage continues at its present rate, the country could lose all its forest during the next 20 years.
