This position was conveyed by António Costa in statements to journalists, after having attended a briefing with the president of the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), with the president of the National Emergency Authority and the Civil Protection, General Duarte Costa, and the Minister of Internal Administration, José Luís Carneiro.

“Weather forecasts indicate that today we will have the most severe day from the point of view of rising temperatures, with an increase in winds from the east and low humidity levels. Today is the day we need more care than ever to prevent new occurrences – and Wednesday was already a very hard day, with more than 200 occurrences of rural fires”.

Next, António Costa left a warning regarding how the next week could unfold: “We may stop being in the state of contingency, but we cannot pass to the state of carelessness”.

“We will continue to record very high temperatures next week. The accumulation of this critical period, first of all from a climatic point of view, has consequences on the risk of fire, increasing dryness and reducing moisture at ground level”, he warned.

“Therefore, more than ever, each citizen must be extremely careful to prevent a fire from being caused by carelessness. The majority of fires are appearing very close to the localities, that is, very close to where humans are”, he added.