Monchique thinks back on catastrophic 2018 wildfire

Just over a year on from the large wildfire which devastated areas of Monchique in 2018, the recently created “Monchique Alerta- Serra livre de incêndios” Association will be holding a public meeting on Saturday, the 3^rd of August at 10:30am.

The meeting will take place at the Restaurante Fonte dos Chorões, in the heart of Monchique. It will be headed by Filipe Duarte, president of the association, and University of Coimbra professor Domingos Xavier Viegas, a member of the of the Technical Independent Observatory for Forest Fires. The session, titled “In memory of the largest and most catastrophic forest fire registered in 2018, in the hope that it isn’t repeated” has the goal of recounting the tragic events of last year, in the interest of preventing any other forest fire from escalating to a similar magnitude in the future.

Monchique Alerta states that this recent initiative’s main objective is to “remember the environmental disaster of last year provoked by the forest fire, which caused much suffering. It will be a day to think of the victims, in which we remember all the losses which we suffered as a result of the fire, the smoke, and the ashes, a day to rethink how we can minimize events like this, and how they affect climate change.”

The organizers of the event will start by opening a photo exhibition focused around the events of the 2018 Monchique forest fire. There will also be direct testimonies from local people who were affected by the catastrophe, as well as experts in the field of forest fire prevention, with the aim of trying to answer the question: “In the future, how can we prevent forest fires?”

The public meeting will equally serve to try to understand “what went wrong before, during, and after the fire”, and to what point, from a realistic perspective, limitations may hinder any suggested improvements.

The session will finish at 13:30, concluding with a minute’s silence.

Moreover, Monchique Alerta expressed that “Everyone is welcome at this public debate. We would be very happy if we can hear many contributions of suggestions which can be taken not only in Monchique, but through Portugal. We want to ensure that environmental catastrophes like last year’s wildfire, which affect the whole country, can be minimized and prevented in the future.”

On Saturday 3rd August there will also be a lunch with the protagonists of this public hearing, costing 9,5 euros. Those who are interested should email [email protected], or call 926 600 099.