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Mayor Santana today argued that it was necessary to draw conclusions from the efforts to extinguish the fires in Madeira and warned that without national and European resources the situation would be difficult to control.
“Without the resources provided by the Republic, namely the special group of firefighters and then the activation of the European environment with aircraft, it would be difficult for us to control the situation in the Autonomous Region of Madeira”, declared Dinalt Fernández (CDS-PP).
The mayor stressed that in the Picoluvo area, in the municipality of Santana, “the fire is extinguished”, explaining that the rains recorded today made it possible to avoid a re-ignition.
“This morning, the Special Fire Brigade visited Picoluvo. The team concluded that the precipitation felt in the area, although not beyond this range, was enough to eliminate the hot spots that existed in the area, which is what we are worried about,” he said.
Dinalt Fernández believes that “political and technical officials”, both in the forestry and civil protection sectors, “must come to conclusions to be able to handle and help such situations more quickly”.
“We can’t allow a fire on the other side of the island to have that kind of impact. We all understand that. We spent 20 years saying helicopters don’t work, and they do. We spent about 20 hours saying Air Canada and fixed-wing aviation don’t work, and they do,” he said.
The council president stressed that there is “always a risk of fire” in the forests, but he believes it is necessary to “think about the type of forest you want” for the future.
He added: “We need to be more realistic about these issues and try the fire-fighting solutions that the world offers us, rather than being so narrow-minded that we have all the solutions here.”
Asked whether authorities had underestimated the fire in its initial stages, Dinalt Fernandez declined to comment but called on parliament to “come to conclusions”.
“I will not be the one to respond to this. I believe that it is the parliament’s responsibility to question political leaders and others. Parliament has a say and has increasing sovereignty in the current political and party situation,” he insisted, alluding to the context in which the Social Democrats govern in a minority, despite an agreement between parliament and the CDS-PP.
The mayor added that he does not think there will be “safe conditions in the near future” to reopen the routes from Achada do Teixeira to Pico Ruivo, from Pico Ruivo to Pico do Areeiro, and from Pico Ruivo to Encumeada and Curral das Freiras.
The fire in the countryside of Madeira Island broke out on August 14 in the mountainous area of Ribeira Brava and gradually spread to the cities of Camara de Lobos, Ponta do Sol and Santana. This morning, the 11th, the regional civil protection department said that the fire has been brought under control and operators are still carrying out follow-up operations on the scene and controlling some hot spots.
In recent days, authorities have instructed nearly 200 people to leave their homes as a precaution and provided public reception facilities, but many residents have still returned home.
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