55 thousand tons of acacia and eucalyptus trees are being removed annually as part of the creation of the Caminho dos Pretos fire strip, a project that is still halfway through. Of the 640 hectares of forest to be intervened, 380 hectares are currently being intervened, revealed this afternoon the president of the Regional Government, Miguel Albuquerque, on the occasion of a visit to the reservoir, now completed, of the water network for combating forest fires, which is an integral part of the fire-stop design.
Along with the “deposit with a capacity to store 1 million and 500 thousand liters” from which a 9-kilometer network with 20 fire hydrants was built, Albuquerque highlighted that this work to fight forest fires alone represents a investment of 2.2 million euros. He just didn’t say that 1.9 million euros is guaranteed by financial support from the European Union, while regional public financial support only covers the remaining almost 340 thousand euros.
“It is an example of a project planned and being carried out in accordance with the principles of prevention and the safeguarding of life and property in the city of Funchal”, he began by pointing out the “giant intervention in the entire Pretos area, upper zone do Monte”, also referring to the Funchal fire strip where the ongoing intervention will cover “about 640 hectares of highly combustible forest, mainly eucalyptus and acacia trees, which almost every year were a problem with high winds and temperatures” . He said that at present the intervention already carried out covers the 380 hectares from which “we are cutting and removing around 55 thousand tons of acacia and eucalyptus trees per year” and “replacing endemic species with native forest”, he informed.