It is a question of management rather than any one species. There are many examples of fires in Portugal in areas where there are no eucalyptus. The common factor in all the fires is a lack of management”, Henrique Vieira, from CELPA, told reporters.
This is not a forestry problem, it is also a social problem and a problem of arsonists, he said.
“Where there is management, fires have a much lower likelihood of occurring and when they do occur they are less intense and cause less damage. Where there is no management, which unfortunately we can see in most of the country, this leads to catastrophic conditions as we see year after year”, he added.