The country is prepared to fight fires, assures António Costa, but “fires only have to be fought if they occur” – prevention is the key and passes “through the hands” of everyone.
António Costa warns that it is necessary to count on everyone’s help in view of the “extreme weather conditions that will be experienced over the next few days”.
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“We can count on a well-prepared system from the point of view of fire response – with volunteer firefighters, professional firefighters, GNR military, forest sappers and all Civil Protection agents, but we must count above all on each and every one of us.”
Fires, recalls the prime minister, “are not born out of spontaneous reaction” – they always arise due to human action, deliberately (by the hand of arsonists) or not.
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In statements to journalists during a visit to the Operations Room and Command of the Emergency Unit of Protection and Rescue (UEPS) of GNR, in Coimbra, António Costa appeals to “everyone to bear in mind that, given the severity of the meteorological situation that we will live from tomorrow and, predictably throughout the week until Sunday, it is essential that everyone has the utmost care.
