Environmental Risks

Rural Fires

The "Rural Fires" fact sheet reports on the number of fires occurred in mainland Portugal and the total burnt area, as well as the area burnt in protected areas, identifying their root causes.

Description: 

Rural fires are one of the main obstacles to the sustainability of the forest and of the ecosystems that are associated with it, causing its degradation, as well as an imbalance in the provisions of goods and services, both of an economic and social nature, and of an environmental nature.

The total area burnt per year shows a high inter-annual variability, which is closely related to the meteorological severity witnessed in each year and has been presenting an upward trend since the mid-1980's, reaching a maximum in the first decade of the 21st century. 

Between 2008 and 2017, there was an average of 21.926 forest fires per year, corresponding to 140,620 hectares of burnt area, 63,860 (45%) of which were forest stands, and 67,622 hectares (48%) were bushes and natural pastures while 9,098 hectares (7%) of agricultural area were also affected.

Maritime pine and eucalyptus are the species which have suffered most severely, corresponding to 82% of the area of forest burnt in the aforementioned period. This situation has been contributing to a sharp reduction in the area of maritime pine (263,000 hectares less between 1995 and 2010) and to an increase in the area of bushes, according to data from the 6th National Forest Inventory.

The rural fire risk is assessed based on the Daily Severity Index (DSR) - derived from the Fire Weather Index (FWI) - which is intended to represent the difficulty to control a rural fire, is directly associated with the efforts required for fire suppression.

This fact sheet concerns mainland Portugal and shall be updated on an annual basis.

Objectives and targets: 

The National Strategy for Forests, in line with the National Plan for the Defence of the Forest Against Fires, comprises strategic objectives that include the increase of the forest's resilience against forest fires and the reduction of the incidence of forest fires; the specific objectives and the targets set for the period 2013-2018 are the following:

  • Reduction of the annual burnt area of forests composed of forest stands to a number lower than 0.8% of the forested area composed of forest stands (25,384 hectares);
  • Significant reduction of the number of fires with a burnt area greater than one hectare;
  • Elimination of fires with areas greater than 1,000 hectares;
  • Reduction, to less than 75, of the number of active fires lasting more than 24 hours;
  • Reduction of the number of re-ignitions to less than 0.5% of the total number of events.
Progress analysis:

Rural Fires in mainland Portugal: events and burnt area

Notas: a) p - Provisional data b) Starting in 2001, fires in agricultural areas are also included, changing the headline from “forest fires” to “rural fires”
Source: ICNF, 2019

Analysing the evolution of the number of occurrences and of the burnt area since 1995, a decrease in the number of occurrences (hot flushes and rural fires) since 2006 is noticeable, when compared to previous years.

The national database of rural fires registered, for 2018, a total of 12,262 rural fires that resulted in 44,520 hectares of burnt area, between stands (21,868 hectares), brushwood (19,437 hectares) and agriculture (3,215 hectares).

The year 2018 was the 2nd lowest value in the number of fires and the 3rd lowest value regarding burnt area since 2008.

The daily severity index (DSR) is an indicator of the severity of weather conditions. The annual cumulative analysis of this index since 2008 shows that the meteorological severity in 2018 was the second least severe and followed a pattern similar to the year 2008.

Forest Fires in mainland Portugal: land use

Notas: a) p - Provisional data b) Starting in 2001, fires in agricultural areas are also included, changing the headline from “forest fires” to “rural fires”
Source: ICNF, 2019

Observing the distribution of the burnt area by type of land use between 1995 and 2018, it can be concluded that, with a few exceptions, the fires consume more areas of bushes and pastures than forests. However, in the last three years there has been a tendency to increase the proportion of affected forest coinciding with the cycle of 2003, where the severity has also increased.

Total burnt area by district comparing 2018 to the average between 2008 and 2017

Notas: p - Provisional data
Source: ICNF, 2019

In 2018, the most affected district in what concerns the burnt area was Faro with 27,005 hectares, about 61% of the total area burnt to date, followed by Braga with 3,188 hectares (7% of the total) and Bragança with 2,033 hectares (5% of the total).

Causes of forest fires investigated by the GNR/SEPNA, in 2018

Source: ICNF, 2019

Of the 12,262 rural fires recorded in 2018, 10,234 were investigated and the cause-finding process was completed (83% of the total number of fires - responsible for 99% of the total area burnt).

Of these, the investigation attributed a cause to 6,431 fires (63% of the fires investigated - responsible for 29% of the total burnt area), with the most frequent causes being in 2018 forest or agricultural burnings (30%) and the incendiarism - Imputable (21%).
 

Burnt area by protected area in 2018

Notas:  p - Provisional data
Source: ICNF, 2019

Taking into account the provisional cartography of 2018 burnt areas, it is estimated that 1,002 hectares of forest burnt in the RNAP, resulting in an affectation rate of 0.14%. The Natural Park of Sintra-Cascais stands out for the largest expanse of burnt area (430 hectares).

Comparing the data for the period 2013-2018 with specific objectives and the targets set for the same period, it can be concluded that:

  • In the period 2013-2018, the goal for the burnt area of forest stands, compared to the total forest area, was over 0.8% in three years, with 2018 meeting the target;
  • As regards the occurrences, during this period there was a downward trend in the number of rural fires. In 2018, rural fires accounted for 44% less of the total number of rural fires;
  • The target of eliminating fires with more than 1,000 hectares was not met in the period 2013-2018 – however, in 2018 only 1 fire had an area larger than 1,000 hectares;
  • The goal of reducing to less than 75 the number of fires lasting more than 24 hours was only met in 3 years (2014, 2015 and 2018);
  • The annual number of re-ignitions in the period 2013-2018 has always exceeded the defined threshold of 0.5% of total occurrences. In 2018, the percentage of re-ignitions was approximately 11%.
Last update: 
Wednesday, 5 June, 2019
More information at: 

Instituto de Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas – www.icnf.pt