Portugal Safety and Security Report Wednesday 22nd January 2025
Good morning. We start the day with the tragic news that a couple and their two young children died in the house where they lived, in Vilar Formoso, in the municipality of Almeida, allegedly due to carbon monoxide inhalation. Although the cause of death has not been confirmed – we remind people once again on the care that needs to be taken when using heating equipment which can cause carbon monoxide poisoning. Remember that many domestic accidents are due to the effect of carbon monoxide, a toxic gas, which is odourless and colourless. Most of such accident are at night time.
Remember before you go to bed or leave the house, check if you have turned off the heating equipment and ensure the room ventilated. Ensure that your heater is in good working order and for wood burning fires and heaters ensure the seals are checked periodically. If someone has symptoms of poisoning, contact the Poison Information Centre: 800 250 250 in an emergency – In serious cases contact 112.
We welcome the news that Albufeira (at long last) has a video monitoring system, which is operated by GNR and went into operation on December 30th, in time for the busy New Year’s Eve. Installed in Baixa de Albufeira, on Avenida Sá Carneiro, and also in the Descobrimentos, Inatel, Três Palmeiras and Globo roundabouts, this ensures coverage of areas of the city with higher concentration of people, namely in the bar streets of Albufeira and Oura, as well as the main entrances.
Over the last few days we have experienced some heavy rain in the Azores, Madeira and the mainland resulting from Depression Garoe. The main areas affected were (as forecast) the Algarve and parts of the centre of the mainland. Orange level rain warnings were issued by the IPMA for the Algarve and Beja and SMS text messages were sent to residents and visitors to seven districts. The sending of SMS text messages is usually when the warnings are at red (maximum) level, but by issuing them earlier, this gives more advanced warning should it be decided to increase the warnings from orange to red.
In addition the ANEPC issued a bulleting with the likely effects from the storm and preventive measure to be taken. Our association shared this advice to those who follow our Facebook Groups and main page. We remind everyone to study and follow this advice which is for everyone’s safety.
This is certainly not the last of the storms/depressions with the news that the latest storm has been named Éowyn by Met Office. It is forecast to bring strong winds to much of the UK on Friday and into Saturday. For Mainland Portugal, an associated front of strong activity is expected on Friday night and Saturday morning, affecting especially the north and central coast. We’ll update as more accurate forecasts will be published.
In Madeira in response to forecasts of worsening sea conditions, that pose the greatest risk on the coast of the Municipality of Santa Cruz, the situation was monitored by the municipality’s Firefighters in conjunction with SANAS (Madeiran Association for Safety at Sea). The measure, which has been implemented for some time, whenever adverse weather conditions occur, seeks to prevent risky behaviour on the part of people who choose to approach the coastline to view the waves, often putting their own lives at risk to take photographs (selfies). Of course this should not be necessary but unfortunately those who do not follow the advice, putting not only their lives at risk, but also those of rescuers.
Our team at Safe Communities wish you all a nice week ahead
News
More than 950 violations involving mobile phone use while driving detected in national campaign
Authorities recorded more than 950 mobile phone offences while driving in the road safety campaign “When driving, your mobile phone can wait”, which ended on Monday, it was announced today.
In a statement, the National Road Safety Authority (ANSR) explains that this campaign, coordinated with the National Republican Guard (GNR) and the Public Security Police (PSP), took place between the 14th and 20th of January and aimed to alert drivers to the consequences of improper use of mobile phones while driving.
Authorities inspected more than 70,000 vehicles in person.
As part of the 2025 National Inspection Plan (PNF), the campaign involved the participation of the regional administration services of the Azores and Madeira and included awareness-raising actions by the ANSR, simultaneously with inspection operations by the GNR and PSP, in Batalha, Braga (two), Leiria and Seixal.
In total, security forces recorded 2,560 accidents, with nine fatalities, 34 serious injuries and 715 minor injuries.
Compared to the same period last year, there were 198 fewer accidents, three more fatalities, nine fewer serious injuries and 23 fewer minor injuries
In total, between in person and by radar, a total of 4.9 million vehicles were inspected during the campaign and 28 thousand infractions were detected.
During the campaign, 446 drivers and passengers were made aware and received messages about the consequences of using a mobile phone while driving, particularly the fact that drivers who use a mobile phone while driving are slower to recognise and react to dangers.
The authorities also warned drivers that using electronic devices while driving can make it difficult to interpret signs and lead to a lack of respect for the rules on giving way, particularly in relation to pedestrians.
Well-protected homes can be safe places against forest fires
Well-protected and maintained homes, with interventions at the building level and on adjacent land, can be safe places for the population in the face of forest fires, concluded a project led by researchers from the University of Coimbra (UC).
Speaking to Lusa, Miguel Almeida, lead researcher on the House Refuge project, said that traditional homes, when well designed and maintained, can serve as safe places in the event of a fire, as long as they are surrounded by adequate fuel management areas.
The researcher at the Forest Fire Studies Centre at ADAI (Association for the Development of Industrial Aerodynamics), created more than 30 years ago in the Mechanical Engineering department at UC, noted, in this context, that one of the components of the project involved studying the management of fuels in the surroundings of buildings.
“What the legislation requires is that there be [around homes] a fuel management strip. It is not a strip without fuel or a strip with fuel cuts”, noted Miguel Almeida.
The researcher explained that these areas must therefore have plant species – complying with the rules that provide for a distance of five metres between each treetop, which doubles to ten metres in the case of pine or eucalyptus trees – so that the houses are not in open fields facing a surrounding forest area, which, if it were to happen, would be harmful, as it would increase the risk of them being hit by fires, due to the projection of sparks.
He recalled, in this regard, that, in the 2017 fires, a study carried out by ADAI found that around 61% of the homes affected were not affected because the flames had reached these homes, but rather by the projections of incandescent particles, which ended up destroying buildings that were unprepared to withstand fires, often entering through the roofs.
The fires in Los Angeles are burning with great intensity and as such they are very difficult to suppress by conventional firefighting means including the use of large tanker aircraft dropping many thousands of litres of fire retardant. In the end however, as we have seen in Portugal such as in the fires in October 2017, it will take a change of weather (namely a decrease in wind speed) that will allow firefighters to extinguish the fires.
The ‘Yes to Difference’ operation, carried out by EPES, has as its main objective the prevention of all forms of discrimination and the practice of hate crimes, instilling in the children and young people targeted by the actions respect for differences and Human Rights.
Portugal was lucky in that we only experienced relatively minor effects Storm Darragh which caused considerable damage and disruption in the UK resulting in two deaths. Winds of 150 km/h were recorded in Wales, bringing down transmission lines leaving thousands without power. The strong winds also affected France with gusts of up to 159 km/h recorded in Carteret, in La Manche. In Brittany, peaks of over 140 km/h were measured (Ouessant, Groix, Pointe du Raz, etc.). But the record was recorded in the Pyrénées-Orientales: 184 km/h.
Italy, Poland and Germany have the highest number of deaths due to fine particles (PM2.5 — with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometres, equivalent to one thousandth of a millimetre).
The researcher also believes that “citizen science” can also be a “valuable tool”, by allowing the expansion of mosquitoes to be monitored, contributing to risk assessment and anticipation of possible outbreaks of the diseases they transmit.