The Minister of Internal Affairs, Eduardo Cabrita, made a positive assessment of the fight against forest fires in 2018, during the delivery, at Batalha, of 47 vehicles to the GNR Nature and Environmental Protection Service.

Eduardo Cabrita said that 44 thousand hectares were burned, “compared to an average of 140 thousand hectares in the last ten years”. According to the Minister, this result was possible due to “the effort of all: voluntary and professional firefighters, Civil Protection, Armed Forces and Special Firefighters”.

The Minister also highlighted the decisive role in raising awareness of the forest clean up, monitoring and combat that the Republican National Guard has developed, adding the “public awareness of the community”, which should be a dynamo to “do even more and better in the coming years”.

“We will do everything possible so that the prevention and cleaning efforts will be further intensified in the coming months, so that 2019 will be a safe year for the Portuguese,” he said.

The 47 vehicles, which are intended for the Nature and Environmental Protection Service (SEPNA), are delivered under the public tender which provides for the allocation, until 2021, of more than 2000 vehicles for security forces and services. It is recalled that the SEPNA was reinforced this year with another 100 elements.

This is the largest centralized vehicle contracting procedure since the State Vehicle Park centralization scheme was implemented in 2008.

The measure, under the Infrastructure and Equipment Programming Law of the Security Forces and Services, involves a total investment of about 50 million euros.