Deadly wildfires: a devastating year for Portugal

[Music] [Music] a hillside in northern Portugal once covered in a blanket of green is now a blackened landscape for the locals the problem is no one cares about the forest except when it's on fire [Music] in 2017 wildfires in Portugal burned up to five hundred and sixty thousand hectares of forests that represents 60 percent of Europe's total for a country that makes up just over two percent of its land mass and this year the fires were the deadliest in the country's history claiming more than 100 lives in pidor ago ground we head towards the N two three six one renamed by local media the saddest street in Portugal after June's wildfires Nadia lost her five year old son and ex-husband in the tragedy the whole family was in two cars they died 200 metres from here you can see that all this is new tarmac if you look back at the pictures from the fire you could see the patchwork that was left on the ground by the burn cars they died just here 19 people died in this stretch of roads 47 in total the 19 just here this is all new the flowers the tarmac they covered it all they're shamed the deaths led to much soul-searching poor forest management abandoned rural areas and climate change created an explosive combination for some the prevalence of non-native eucalyptus trees or also to blame locals refer to it as the fire tree yes the valta cooler to the yellow day has this river been mostly a eucalyptus plantation belonging to a cellulose company they say that their plantation doesn't burn but that's not exactly true when the fire is very strong it comes via keye it matter the old stump interview as you can see there trees have burned a septic system of course this forest management they plow they try to reduce the flammable material but when the fire is really strong this is not enough no a sufficient Father Cruz said he knew a massive fire was coming he believes that having homemade firefighting equipment is essential in these remote regions firefighting experts argue the best way to fight fire is with fire using controlled burns and steering fires away from communities can help avoid tragedies like the drag-out in October new fires brought fresh misery to the forests and their communities thousands of fires erupted across northern Portugal killing 45 people firefighter chief Amanda Marquez was on the frontline of the inferno it was impressive a fire that spread so quickly with so much wind we were incapable of putting out the flames if only you could have seen it it was so scary as I said I've been a firefighter for 40 years and I've never seen anything like it a fire of this size it was terrible we are so sad that we couldn't do anything to stop it it was bad so bad [Music] October's fires were so savage in part due to winds from hurricane Ophelia winds over 100 km/h firmed the flames in Portugal combined with a summer heat wave called Lucifer which left the countryside tinder-dry scientists at world weather Attribution found the heat wave temperatures were made at least 10 times more likely due to climate change [Music] human activity is the recurring theme in deadly forest fires this is also seen in Portugal's wood industry which relies on eucalyptus for the paper and pulp sector it takes less than half the time to harvest as native species such as oak and pine after a fire many smaller businesses switched to eucalyptus hoping the shorter production cycle will help recoup losses before the next fire approximately three percent of forest lands estate owned much of the remaining woods are sliced up into smaller slices owned by people living far away what we're looking at is the result of decades of abandonment and degradation of this agricultural space so it gives way for this vegetation to grow and become what we call forest fuel and so if a fire comes it eats up the whole area fire analyst emmanuel oliveira explains how the relationship between humans and forests creates a vicious cycle he says the solution lies in giving the green spaces an economic value if nothing changes he fears the worst next year it depends on the weather the scenario isn't very promising the climate situation is not very good news so it will depend on the day to day weather [Music] there's a lot of abandoned areas areas that we don't profit from we don't take care of or capitalize on this rural space so we will carry on having forest fires just like those we saw this year the threat of another deadly fire and the loss of her family has spurred Nadia into action she heads a victim's association a hundred people had to die and we had to create an association for a voiceless community to have our voices heard now the community has a small voice to show how shameful it is this is why it is so important for us to tell your because this country is not able to protect its own people so we have to be heard elsewhere the relationship between humans and fire will continue to be a complicated affair which requires action at local national and even international levels to help prevent loss of life and protect rural communities but both humans and trees share a point in common their ability to adapt and survive in the line of fire [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music]

Channel: euronews

Views: 17,380

Keywords: 360 video, virtual reality, 360 audio, ambisonic audio, spatialized audio, portugal, fire, wildfire, portugal wildfire 2017, portugal wildfire, portugal fire, portugal fires 2017, portugal fires 2017 october, portugal fire video, portugal fire storm, portugal burning, wildfire 2017, fire in europe, fighting wildfires, fighting wildfires videos, wildfire europe, wildfire europe october, hurricane ophelia, hurricane ophelia 2017, deadly fire, deadly fires, euronews

Id: -grgdZonjgw

Length: 9min 44sec (584 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 21 2017