"A researcher expresses confusion over the current circumstances"
Fire Researcher Advocates for Proactive Fire Prevention
In an interview with SIC Notícias, Abílio Pereira Pacheco, a fire researcher from the University of Porto, has called for a shift in approach to forest fire prevention. Instead of relying solely on firefighting technologies or direct combat of forest fires, Pereira Pacheco believes that the most effective strategy is territory management.
This approach includes policies for controlling brush and managing the land to reduce fire risk. Pereira Pacheco emphasizes the importance of controlling brush to minimize combustible material in forests and rural areas, and implementing land use management strategies that reduce fire intensity and spread.
He also advocates for integrated territorial management, which addresses ecological and agricultural practices to create less fire-prone landscapes. Pereira Pacheco does not specify which activities he believes should be implemented to control brush growth, but he does endorse the establishment of policies aimed at such activities.
The researcher asserts that no existing technology can completely halt a fire, and that the primary obstacle in firefighting today is an abundance of fuel for combustion. He does not express an opinion on the political decision to follow technical criteria for resource allocation, but he does perceive an exaggeration of the fire prevention situation as being nonsensical.
Pereira Pacheco trusts that the political decision is being made with rigorous adherence to technical criteria, and he advocates for discovering methods that already exist in terms of fire prevention management. He does not discuss any operational criteria for resource allocation in the context of the current paragraph.
Prime Minister Luís Montenegro has stated that requests for resources follow technical and operational criteria, and Pereira Pacheco endorses this approach. However, he expresses concern that the practice of reducing brush with fertilizers, which previously controlled fuel availability, has ceased. Pereira Pacheco does not support a return to this past practice, but he believes that such policies would contribute to the control of fires.
In summary, Pereira Pacheco's perspective is that a proactive, strategic approach to fire prevention, focused on territory management and the control of brush growth, is the key to preventing forest fires from becoming unmanageable. He emphasizes the importance of managing vegetation and landscape structure, and trusts that the political decision to follow technical criteria for resource allocation is the right one.
[1] Source: Expresso, August 4, 2025.
Science plays a crucial role in shaping health-and-wellness practices, and environmental-science, specifically fire research, can offer insights to promote fitness-and-exercise regimes that are fire-safe. Instead of solely focusing on post-fire recovery, emphasis should be placed on proactive, preventive measures like vegetation management and landscape structure planning.
