Month: August 2019

According to VSOT Portugal as at 1630 hrs 8^th August, there is no fuel available at the Galp de Alfragide gas station in Lisbon (North-South direction), as is the Cova do Gato gas station in Alentejo. There are also 20 other stations in mainland that no longer have one of the fuels: gasoline, diesel and or LPG, according to the map created by VOST Portugal.

Of the 20 stations already without one of the fuels, there are eight without gasoline, ten without diesel and two without LPG. One of the stations without gasoline is the A2 station in Aljustrel (south-north direction).

The REPA (Strategic Network of Gas Stations are identified on the map) posts are intended to supply emergency vehicles and will only be active if the strike progresses and as soon as the Government decrees the state of energy emergency. Until then, they are normal filling stations.

According to Jorge Gomes, one of the founders of VOST Portugal – Digital Volunteers in Emergency Situations , the platform already existed at the time of the first strike in April – the fuel supply pump validation system was improved.

“We only report a [no fuel] post after at least ten individual submissions [informing that a particular pump has no fuel] and we also receive calls or private messages from our volunteers who are on site and are able to report no there is fuel”.

The new platform of VOST Portugal is more accessible to the user, has access to maps available for free by the company Mapbox, with the indication of existing stations throughout the continental territory. The map will display not only gasoline and diesel but also LPG data, and this time it will be easier to consult the map via smartphone – in April over 80% of accesses were made via mobile VOST reports.

The platform now has an automatic validation system – there were cases, in the first strike, when wrong information was sent about pumps that would already be out of fuel, which was not true, but a strategy of those who wanted to avoid floods at the pump where used to supply, according to Jorge Gomes, one of the founders of VOST Portugal.

The platform also has an application – the API – available to large distributors and official entities that can place information on the platform and will have priority.

Waze Portugal – which also has volunteer work – has joined VOST and will update the information on its platform via the API.

 

The Government has recognised as a natural disaster the fire that struck several parishes of the municipalities of Vila de Rei and Mação, between July 20 and 23, and will grant aid to farms, was announced today.

In an order published today in Diário da República, the Government states that the forest fires that broke out between July 20 and 23, “of enormous and devastating proportions, caused extensive damage and losses, particularly in certain parishes of the municipalities of Vila de Rei and Mação ”, in the districts of Castelo Branco and Santarém, respectively.

Thus, according to the order, the Government also establishes aid, through the Mainland Rural Development Program (PDR 2020), for the restoration or restoration of the productive potential of damaged farms, as it had previously done with the storm. Leslie who hit the center zone, particularly Figueira da Foz, in October 2018.

Support under this operation is intended to help rebuild or restore production conditions on farms affected by natural disasters, adverse weather accidents or catastrophic events in order to create conditions for their return to normal activity.

The parishes most affected by the flames were Foundada and São João do Peso, in the municipality of Vila de Rei, and Almond and Cardigos, in the municipality of Mação.

Only those holdings whose damage suffered exceeds 30% of their agricultural potential shall be eligible for the aid.

According to the order published today, the levels of support to be granted are divided into the following categories: 100% of eligible expenditure up to and including € 5,000, 85% for losses between € 5,000 and € 50,000 and € 50 % between 50 thousand euros and 800 thousand euros.

The fire that erupted on July 20 in Vila de Rei and spread to the municipality of Mação, was reportedly dominated on July 23, causing 17 injured transported to the hospital, according to authorities.

 

The Portuguese Air Force (FAP) flew over the area between Montijo and Castelo Branco today to test the sensors that can help with firefighting by transmitting real-time aerial images to a ground station.

“Basically it’s a video transmission system for a ground station, so all that we’ll be seeing on the plane, we can transmit to a ground station, which then passes this information and this video to other entities,” according to Captain Nuno Marques in an interview with Lusa.

He explained that the equipment could be useful in “everything that may involve the theatre of operations”, as the surroundings, positions, means of approaching or departing.

The C-295 M aircraft captured images, also available in infrared, and could see with precision everything that happened on land.

This was a demonstration flight, but could “move on to a real mission” if necessary, transmitting information to entities involved in firefighting, such as the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority.

However, Saturday morning was quiet in the centrer of the country and there were no occurrences to register from FAP’s point of view.

“For the time being, we had no occurrences, just made a surveillance flight to see if we detected any situation or any burns, for example, but it was not the case,” he said.

According to the captain, this is a “very useful” tool and the goal is that it will be used in the future to prevent and fight fires.

“We are here to do our best and help to prevent and anticipate situations that may escalate to other dimensions,” he said.

Lisbon, 01 Aug 2019 (Lusa) – More than 60 Navy and Army military personnel will be reinforcing fire prevention surveillance and patrols from nine districts from Friday to Monday, the General Staff said today. General of the Armed Forces.

“Rising temperatures for the next few days will bring 66 military personnel to the ground from tomorrow [Friday] on 22 patrols (six Navy and 16 Army), which will reinforce ground surveillance and deterrent patrols in nine districts of mainland Portugal, in support of the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC) on fire prevention, ”reads a statement sent to the media.

EMGFA states that the objective of this measure is “to increase prevention actions throughout the country, with special focus on the districts of Bragança, Beja, Castelo Branco, Evora, Faro, Guarda, Portalegre, Santarém and Vila Real”.

“The military of the Armed Forces will be engaged in ground surveillance operations, but, if necessary, may be engaged in aftermath actions or general support for protective and relief operations that may be triggered,” he adds in a statement released today.

According to the EMGFA, these military personnel “add up to the 124 who are already in the same functions in much of the national territory”.

Among these, 105 military personnel are “within the scope of the ‘faunos plan”, in support of the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests, and 19 military personnel under municipal protocols, in surveillance, deterrence and public awareness missions ”.

“The Armed Forces General Staff, through its liaison officers to the District Relief Operations Commands, is constantly monitoring the evolution of the operational situation,” the note added.

Civil Protection today extended the special state of yellow alert until Monday on the continuation of favourable weather conditions to the risk of rural fire and announced the reinforcement of means and air and ground surveillance.

The decision to extend the yellow alert is justified due to weather issues (wind and low humidity) and the fact that August is the month with the largest influx of people into the interior of the country, which increases the risk of rural ignitions.

Although extreme temperatures are not expected until Monday, it is expected to maintain the weather conditions observed over the past few days in a moderate to strong wind, both day and night, and low relative humidity throughout the southern Tagus Valley and and in the northern interior, especially in the districts of Castelo Branco and Guarda.

To address these critical factors, ANEPC’s deputy operational commander, Pedro Nunes, said that Civil Protection will increase air and ground surveillance through the use of observation and surveillance aircraft that are part of the forest fire fighting device to use Air Force drones to fulfill the mission in question.

The state of alert – said Pedro Nunes – will apply in the districts of Vila Real, Bragança, Guarda, Castelo Branco, Santarem, Portalegre, Evora, Beja and Faro.

 

 

On Friday, the “Jornal de Notícias” (JN) reported that the National Civil Protection Authority (ANPC) delivered seventy thousand smoke collars, included in fire relief kits, under the “Safe Village – Safe People” program. .

The same newspaper wrote that they were collars made of flammable material and without anti-carbonization treatment, which provoked a series of criticisms to ANEPC and the Government, which paid 125 thousand euros for the smoke-free collars. The case has already prompted the Ministry of Internal Affairs to open an urgent inquiry into what happened. Understand what is happening with these quick answers.

The problem with the controversial kit, which serves as a first aid to the emergence of fires rather than combat, is that it includes a polyester smoke collar that will not have the expected effectiveness: preventing smoke inhalation through a filter effect. In addition to ineffectiveness, the collar material is flammable and uncarbonised.

One company from Fafe, Braga district, Foxtrot Aventura, and another from Arouca, Brain One – both contacted by ANEPC and made the collar and the kit..

Foxtrot Aventura sold a total of 15,000 kits and 70,000 collars in June 2018. According to the news, anti-smoking collars cost 125,000 euros. In his defence, a Fafe company official considered merchandising and that ANEPC did not refer to Foxtrot Aventura that the equipment “would be used in scenarios involving fire”.

On the same day that the complaint was reported, the Civil Protection stated that the materials distributed are not for firefighting or for individual protection, but for raising awareness of good practices.

In a statement, ANEPC recalled that the programs “derive from the Resolution of the Council of Ministers no. 157-A / 2017, of 27 October, and aim to empower the populations to strengthen the security of people and goods by adopting self-protection measures and simulations to local evacuation plans”.

First, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Eduardo Cabrita, said that the news about the smoke-free collars with flammable material distributed under the Safe Villages program had been “irresponsible and alarmist”.

However, Eduardo Cabrita had an urgent inquiry opened on Saturday on the hiring of fire-fighting material following news about smoke-resistant collars with flammable material distributed under the Safe Villages program.

“In light of the published news on contractual aspects of the awareness-raising material, the Minister of Internal Affairs asked the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority for clarification and called for an urgent inquiry into the Inspectorate General of Internal Administration,” read a communiqué of the guardianship.

This Monday, July 29, the Assistant Secretary of State for Civil Protection, Francisco José Ferreira, resigned after assuming his responsibility in choosing the companies that eventually awarded the manufacture of 70,000 flammable smoke collars.

The contracts in question were coordinated by the Secretary of State for Civil Protection, under the guidance of Francisco José Ferreira, leader of the PS / Arouca who, before joining the Government, was a baker in a pastry shop in Vila Nova de Gaia, owned by his brother. Francisco José Ferreira, 30, with his 12th grade, was appointed to the Government in December 2017.

Indeed, ANEPC received today the Preliminary Report containing the results of the test carried out on the mentioned “collars”, by the Centre for Forest Fire Studies, coordinated by Professor Dr. Domingos Xavier Viegas.

Without prejudice to the availability of ANEPC and the test coordinator for clarification, the following conclusion is drawn: “(…) the collars tested did not ignite – that is, they did not ignite with flame – even when subjected to a very high intensity heat flux produced by flames ranging in height from one to four meters, even when placed less than 0.5m from the flames for more than one minute.” Source Economic Jornel)