Tragic Wildfire in Portugal

(1) Visible satellite image of deadly wildfires in Portugal on June 18, 2017. (Photo courtesy of NASA-MODIS.)

By George H. Potter

Spring 2017 was extremely hot and dry in Spain and Portugal, with temperatures exceeding 105ºF. Humidity was down around 25 to 30 percent in the interior regions, and dry thunderstorms accompanied by strong and variable winds were the norm. These conditions are the ideal settings for wildfires.

On June 17, a lightning bolt struck a dry tree in the mountainous area of Pedrógão Grande in the center of Portugal, about midway between Lisbon and the historic wine town of Oporto. (Note: Although the cause of the fire was initially attributed to a lightning strike on a tree, investigations that were carried out before the fires were completely extinguished indicated the possibility that the fires may have been purposely set.) This date will be long remembered in the country for the devastating results of the week-long disastrous fire that followed.

During this period, about 150 wildland fires were active in numerous regions of the country, the majority of which were small and easily controlled with the exception of the wildfire in Pedrógão. This particular area is densely forested with pine trees. However, even more important and hazardous was the extensive growths of eucalyptus trees, one of the most combustible trees in the world (firefighters in California and Australia will attest to this).

The fire apparently began mid-day and spread with astounding speed. Numerous area residents tried to escape in cars, trucks, and even tractors on local road N236. Hours later, this would become known as “Death Road”; 47 fleeing residents became trapped in their vehicles as the fire rapidly surrounded them, cutting off their escape. Also during this period, 11 more people died in similar circumstances on another local road. A total of 65 people perished in this fire, including four firefighters. More than 200 other people were confirmed injured including eight other firefighters; 10 people were classified as being in critical condition.

Portugal is a small country—about 350 miles long by 120 miles wide. Its population is 10,326,000, with about 15 percent of which living in the 10 major cities including Lisbon, Porto, Braga, Setubal, Coimbra. The remainder of the population live in smaller towns, villages, and rural areas. The Portuguese fire services are a mix of full-time professional firefighters in the major municipalities, part-time semiprofessionals in some of the lesser populated towns, and volunteers in the more rural areas. Of the more than 48,800 firefighters in the country, only a few thousand are professionals; this became a vital factor in the evolution of this fatal wildfire. The fire services form a part of the National Authority for Civil Protection (ANPC), which is a governmental entity. Although it is directed and influenced by politically appointed people, operational management is in the hands of qualitied and experienced fire protection professionals. Many regions in the interior of Portugal are rural and often isolated, and the fire protection in these areas is by completely volunteer fire brigades, which are, more often than not, poorly equipped, undertrained, and have little experience in dealing with incidents of the magnitude of this fire.

(2) The wildfires as seen in Pedrógão Grande, Portugal. (Photo courtesy of 20minutos.es.)

During the initial phases of the incident, there were numerous situations of confusion and a lack of coordinated incident management contributing to delayed mobilization of optimum material and human resources. Firefighters, vehicles, and firefighting aircraft were mobilized from many regions of the country. The European Union has in place a Civil Protection Assistance Protocol bythrough which any member country can solicite or offer human and material assistance in cases of major emergencies. This protocol was activated early on during the incident, resulting in the dispatch of 200 members of Spain’s Military Emergency Units (UME), nearly 100 civilian firefighters, 35 rural and special forestry fire engines, four heavy tankers, two tractor-drawn 8,000-gallon tankers, two bulldozers, and several fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. Spanish public fire services in Galicia, Madrid, and Valencia sent personnel and material. Five aircraft were sent by France and two more from Italy. Senior staff of the ANPC assumed overall incident management, which was decisive in improving emergency operations management.

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Another factor that contributed to the initial chaos was that several telephone lines in the region had been affected by the fires, interrupting vital communications. This fact, plus extreme delays in controlling roads and pólice traffic were factors in deaths on the two roads.

As the nearly 2,000 firefighters gained control of the fire, numerous facts came to light that put a number of governmental entities and politicians in uneasy situations, which includes the following:

• According to Portuguese legislation, more than half of the country’s woodlands are privately owned; this makes supervision and even access difficult (if not nearly imposible). Access to much of the forested land is through poorly maintained rural roads that are, more often than not, unpaved and very narrow.
• Also according to national legislation, forest masses must be inspected and fire safety procedures revised every two years. It was discovered that this had not been done during the preceeding four years.
• Another factor contributing to the generally high fire hazard in many areas of the country is the constant decrease in population. Numerous villages had been totally abandoned and, as a result, nothing was done in and around these areas to reduce the risk of wildfires.
• The lack of reliable communications at the outset of the emergency as well as the lack of major emergency experience for many of the firefighters contributed to the initial delays and lack of efficiency.
• Many local volunteer firefighters lacked adquate personal protective equipment (PPE), and some of the mobile fire apparatus was completely out of place.
• Although the European Civil Protection Assistance protocol was activated, several groups of Spanish firefighting personnel and their apparatus were held at border crossings by local authorities who claimed that they could not handle the magnitude of vehicles and personnel entering the country. As the ANPC authorities assumed overall command, these situations were quickly resolved, and the vehicles and crews were able to join in the combat of the fires.
• Heavy smoke interrupted aerial operations for several hours on one particular day, complicating ground operations.
• At one point, one of the Bombadier aircraft had crashed during operations. This was later officially denied by the ANPC.

(3) Another view of the wildfires in Pedrógão Grande, Portugal, on June 18, 2017. (Photo courtesy of 20minutos.es.)

The ANPC has begun an extensive review of numerous policies and procedures regarding major emergencies. Among these reviews were questions regarding communications, training, PPE, mobile resources, and mobilization.

There were several cases where people who were apparently trapped by the fires saved themselves. In one situation, 12 people jumped into a water storage tank, and in another incident, a man jumped into a livestock water trough.

This fire burned more than 111,120 acres of woodland, killed 65 people, and injured 200 more. Hundreds of homes and businesses were destroyed, and countless heads of livestock were lost. Recovery will be long and costly, but hopefully the aftermath will bring proper solutions to numerous faults and defects in forestry management and wildland fire combat.

During the past 30 years, five major wildfires around the world have taken more than 740 human lives (Table 1).  

Table 1. Deadliest Wildfires from Around the World (1987-2017)

George H. Potter is a practicing fire protection specialist who has lived in Spain for the past 47 years. He served as an Anne Arundel County (MD) volunteer firefighter with the Riva Volunteer Fire Department and the Independent Hose Company in Annapolis and as an ambulance driver with the Wheaton (MD) Rescue Squad. He served six years in the United States Air Force as a firefighter, an apparatus driver/operator, and a crew chief. He has been involved in fire protection system installation, mobile fire apparatus design, and construction and fire safety training. He is a Spain-certified fire service instructor and a hazmat specialist, and is a member of the Board of Governors of the Spanish Firefighters’ Association (ASELF).

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