Portugal’s Minister of Internal Affairs, José Luís Carneiro, has reaffirmed that the Government will invest €250 million euros in preventing and fighting fires in 2023.

Speaking to local media, Carneiro said that all climate and meteorological forecasts point to an even more demanding 2023 and 2024 which will mean a likely increase in extreme fire events.

“We cannot wait for April, May, or June”, he warned, explaining that public investment planned in this area for next year is part of the “national effort” assumed by António Costa’s executive. The Minister of Internal Administration said it is important ‘to work on prevention well in advance’.

“There are more than 250 million euros that illustrate well the support of this Government to firefighters and the priority given to preventing and fighting rural fires”, Carneiro added.

He said that 52.7 million euros are likely to be allocated the Special Device for Combating Rural Fires (DECIR) and added: “The Portuguese Government will continue, in 2023, to pursue a path of strengthening the means for civil protection. We are going to go from 29.7 million euros of permanent funding to fire brigades to 31.7 million euros, which means an increase of 6.7% compared to 2022.”