liveaboard

I can see the plume from my house today.
Yesterday in Portimao, there was ash in the air.
I always buy "Monchique" spring water. Maybe it will have ash in it next time.
It's probably just tap water anyway.

There has been some discussion and some dispute online about what to give to the bombeiros.
I saw a published list, bottled water, med supplies, etc.
I'm a DIY sort of guy, I prefer to do things myself; so I just dropped in at the office and asked.
There were pallets of water bottles, the boss said most everything is stocked up now, but he lads wouldn't mind some fresh fruit and some ham for sandwiches.

So that's what they got.

GeniB

Great work Live We went along on Tuesday with the list of things given by AFPOP... Burn cream, energy bars and drinks, socks, At that time they didn't need water. Apparently they do now. They have admitted this morning that fire retardant foam wasn't used on every plane or helicopter.( essential ,according to wild fire experts) not part of the remit was the answer given.. a shocking admission. It means those fires already put out ,could reignite. The prime minister hasn't visited, nor any other senior politician. ( wonder what our Dave thinks of that ? all roads being closed now)
People are already angry that the readily accessible public has been made to spend money on clearing their land ( or be heavily fined) people like my friends who had to clear 16 hectares
But once again the owners of the Eucalyptus plantations et al are nowhere to be seen, nothing been done. If true.. its scandalous.

Will be making up another parcel today... Sticking plasters, sanitary towels ( yep they have women fire fighters) cotton socks, more burn cream I thought the huge clouds behind our house this morning were rain clouds.. so huge were they... Nope. no hope of that it seems.

mfesharne

EMR

For a start stop any new eucalyptus plantations, the fires on Monchique were made much worse by this monoculture.
Plantations with few firebreaks s and access roads..
North of Lagos around the barragem is another large area that is also at high risk due to these plantations...

mfesharne

Not all eucalyptus are bad. IF (note the big IF) they're planted the right distance apart, in the right areas & both trees & land are properly & regularly maintained then they're not a problem.

However; the real issue is those rules are ignored by the vast majority of owners of small blocks of woodland as proved by last & this year's fires.

These people have had a full 12 months to correct the issues but have failed to do so & IMO now deserve to be prosecuted & have those lands confiscated by Government.

Ukkram

I have seen and heard how eucalyptus trees explode. They don't always just burn. Eucalyptus oil is highly inflammable and do explode in high heat.

Ingles

I honestly can't fault your post at all , but the other side off the problem is the complete lack off common sense & "teeth" by the Judicial System !
i.e. In todays press, in Serpa a local guy was caught red handed starting a fire last year , taken to Court & given a "suspended sentence"
They had him again early this week ,& he readily admitted he started the fire they where investigating
As before & yet again , most off these "people" are Bat -hit Crazy & or Alcoholics who are addicted to the "kick" they get, by being able to be responsible for all the excitement & confusion that the resulting fire causes !!!!

macliam

I bet we see an upswing in GNP activity against "low hanging fruit" to show that they are busy - because the problem has always been the interpretation of the law. People around here were gutting their established gardens in fear of a fine. But we are covered by a ZIF (Zona de Intervenção Florestal) looking at the re-forestation of the area, so we are lucky to have forestry engineers around to ask. Ours visited and said my half-dozen pine trees are "decorative", my yuccas and palms are "garden plants" and my hedge is excluded, so little to be done apart from plough my fire-breaks and keep the scrub under control.

But then, he also said "I'm not SEPNA!" . So let's see.......

007Steve

Evidently parts of the PT judicial system are now sooooo backed-up after the judges strikes, it's almost non-functioning.
In the UK these people would be Care in the Community cases. It's dificult to say when their risk to a community makes closed institutional confinement the only option.

mfesharne

The page on the link below & some of the other pages might be useful to some:

Protect Your Home - Portugal Wildfires

GeniB

Tha Mayor of Monchique has stated that 50% of his area is made up of Eucalyptus plantations .They are often in the inaccessbile valleys. It appears that the multi corporate owners have done nothing to manage them.. ensure fire breaks, ways out etc. He is apparently waiting until the fire's are out before launching an attack on these people and the government. for burning out half of his area.causing immense damage for the third time in so many years.... It is as they said in the Algarve News. The scandal of the Eucalyptus. Now if David Cameron and his family had perished ,I'm sure we would have had a whole different situation to deal with ,than a few locals burn't out of house and home.

EMR

It was,t Cameron who was in the UK press but the c list non entity who hosts Itv s morning prog, who poor soul could see the fires from the terrace of his luxury villa white eating his lobster salad..
The UK press performed abysmally in its reporting of the fires.

GeniB

No don't think Cameron was in the UK press... except a quick one liner saying he was staying in the Monchqie area... Did b*****r all while he was there then.You'd think he would have made the odd phone call for some help for the UK's oldest ally wouldn't you..Once a weasel always a weasel

GeniB

Tell that to the ex-Portuguese footballer who did ALL that ... and still lost his home and business because of negligent plantation owners. No use issuing this advice as long as they leave those 'criminals' free reign to do as they like.

mfesharne

Which criminals?......... As far as I'm concerned, the owners of the woodland (who incidentally are by the vast majority private citizens who own small blocks) & who have failed to obey the new laws introduced one whole year ago are as guilty as the lunatics who (in the case of arson) set the fires & I'm actually surprised the insurance companies that have had to pay out on fire claims haven't sued some of these people.

If those owners had cut & cleared the land to the legal limits of 50m from lone buildings, 100m from villages & 10m from roadside verges the just forests would have burned & Bombeiros & other emergency services would not have had to put themselves in such appalling danger.