Pedro Louro, commander of the Espinho fire department and municipal coordinator of civil protection in the aforementioned city, considers that “the level of political interference in the civil protection sector is extremely exaggerated”.
In an analysis of the fires in Madeira, published on the social network LinkedIn, entitled ‘Let’s be fair and realistic’, the expert praises the action of the Regional Civil Protection and talks about the specificities of the island, considering that the time to request help was correct.
“If we had officially and clearly defined a set of metrics that defined external support for the territory in question, the timing of whether or not to ask for support from the mainland would be justified and the question of “why only now” would also be automatically answered,” he wrote.
According to Pedro Louro, “opinions and voluntarism cause pressure on public opinion which, in turn, causes pressure on political decision-makers, who end up giving in for fear of being accused of “not accepting help” or “not asking for help””.
“The fires in Madeira are news, among other things, because we are not used to accepting that there are areas where the fire will develop freely for days, without means of fighting it and without much being done; most of the perimeters of the fires on Madeira Island will extinguish themselves in areas with less predisposition to fire or when the fuel (vegetable cover) is all consumed”, he considers.
Pedro Louro is convinced that “FOCON [Integrated Operational Force] will inject know-how and support into operational decision-making due to the value of the operatives involved and the technology that I am sure they will use” and “will alleviate political pressure and help reassure the population and public opinion”.
To conclude his reflection, the expert leaves a warning: “The island of Madeira should assess whether it will not experience a winter with an increased risk of landslides on slopes and rapid flooding in urban areas, such is the effect caused on the soil by rural fires”.