In a message posted by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Internal Administration on the social network X, the Government thanks “Ukraine for its willingness to provide assistance to Portugal.”
On Saturday, the Portuguese government thanked Ukraine, through the X network, for its help in sending a plane to combat the large fires that ravaged the central and northern regions of the country last week.
On behalf of the Portuguese Government, EMN, @PauloRangel_ptand MAI, Margarida Blasco. @ainterna_ptthank you, in the person of MNE ???????? @andrii_sybihaUkraine’s readiness to provide assistance to ????????? in fighting fires.
— PT Foreign Affairs (@nestrangeiro_pt) September 21, 2024
“On behalf of the Portuguese Government, the Minister of Foreign Affairs (MNE), Paulo Rangel, and the Minister of Internal Administration (MAI), in the person of the Ukrainian MNE, would like to thank Ukraine for its willingness to provide assistance to Portugal in fighting the fires,” reads the publication made by the MNE.
Ukraine on Thursday provided a firefighting plane to Portuguese authorities to deal with the forest fires.
In a message also published on social media.
Following instructions from President Volodymyr Zelensky, “Ukraine has offered a Ukrainian AN-32P firefighting aircraft, with a crew, to support these efforts,” the head of kyiv’s diplomacy said.
Between Sunday and Friday, wildfires consumed around 135,000 hectares, bringing the total area burned in Portugal this year to almost 147,000 hectares, the third largest in the decade, according to the European Copernicus system.
The areas most affected by the fires in recent days are the Viseu Dão Lafões region, with an area consumed by flames of more than 52 thousand hectares, Tâmega e Sousa (more than 25 thousand hectares), the Aveiro region (more than 24 thousand hectares), followed by the Porto Metropolitan Area, Alta Tâmega and Ave, with a burnt area of more than nine thousand hectares each.
According to the European Earth observation system Copernicus, which uses satellite images with a spatial resolution of 20 and 250 metres, the area burned since Sunday has reached 135,752 hectares.
In total, 146,649 hectares have been burned this year in Portugal, with the country going, in one week, from the best values of burned surface in the decade to the third worst since 2014, only surpassed in 2017 (563 thousand hectares) and 2016 (165 thousand).
The European Copernicus system also reports that 170 major fires have occurred in Portugal this year.
Compared to other EU countries, Portugal leads the list this year in terms of the percentage of burned surface area, followed by Cyprus, Bulgaria, Croatia and Greece.
The National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC) has not recorded any significant fire incidents today, although there are still resources on the ground: 226 operational resources and two aerial resources in the fire that occurred in the Castro Daire region (Viseu).
For the first time since Sunday, the ANEPC website does not have any “red” warnings for active fires today.
The Government has declared a state of emergency in all municipalities affected by the fires of recent days.
The fires ravaged the northern and central regions of the country, causing 17 serious injuries and five deaths, authorities said, and leaving a trail of destruction.
Source: Observadora
