Spanish and Moroccan planes have arrived in the past few days to assist Portuguese firefighters, who have been struggling to contain blazes, the worst being in central Portugal.
Evacuations were carried out in several locations in the Castelo Branco and Santarém regions, especially in Mação, along with preventative withdrawals in other villages.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General’s office was this week forced to release a list of fire deaths after numbers debacle.
It confirmed that “to their knowledge” 64 people were killed in the fires in Pedrógão Grande and has published a list of the names.
The Attorney General said this confirmation comes after questioning a witness who has been publically alleging knowledge of more victims than those announced by the authorities.
Monday’s edition of i newspaper published a list with 73 names that were supposedly victims of the June tragedy in Pedrógão Grande, compiled by a businesswoman to hold a memorial for the victims.
The list included the 38 people burnt to death on the EN 236 road when they were surrounded by the flames.
After analysing the information, the Attorney General said on Tuesday that there were some mistakes regarding the identity of the people’s names on the list and at least six of the names were repeated.
The fire that broke out in Pedrógão Grande in the centre of Portugal on 17 June caused at least 64 deaths and 200 injuries and was only declared extinct a week later.
In related news, Portugal’s National Agriculture Confederation this week asked the government to “set production prices” to guarantee the sale of Portuguese potatoes, and to “buy a few tonnes of potatoes” to help populations affected by this summer’s wild fires.
“Buying domestic potatoes at fair prices would have the advantage of helping producers who are facing a serious crisis and of showing solidarity with the victims of the fires,” said João Silva e Sousa of the National Agriculture Confederation (CNA), at a meeting of potato producers in Vilarinho do Bairro, Anadia.
Local potato producers complain of “major difficulties in disposing of the product,” explaining that the cost of production is sometimes three times higher than the sale price to intermediaries, almost always large distribution chains.
“Only setting the price for production will allow prices that we can work with,” said Suilva e Sousa, adding that currently “there is no outlet and the price is miserable.”
According to figures published by the CNA, in the current situation a producer invests an average of over €6,000 to produce 85 tonnes of potatoes. The market value of these 85 tonnes is just over €4.000, representing a loss of almost €2,000 for producers.
“Those who profit from the situation are the middlemen, who then sell the products in the supermarkets to the final consumer at a great profit,” the CNA reports.
The situation of potato producers has the “solidarity and understanding” of the mayor of Anadia, Teresa Cardoso.
The mayor, who was in Vilarinho do Bairro and visited a farm, said she was sorry about, “the adverse conditions” faced by producers, and called for the government to set prices, in order to avoid profiteering.
According to figures provided by the CNA, in the area of Bairrada there are more than 300 hectares of farms that have potatoes as their main crop.