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FILE - In this Monday, Oct. 16 2017 file photo, burnt cars sit next to a house near Penacova, northern Portugal. Portugal's prime minister is warning against complacency in the fight against wildfires after huge blazes in 2017 that killed more than 100 people were followed by two years of much smaller charred areas and no deaths. Prime Minister Antonio Costa said at a ceremony Monday, June 17, 2019 honoring some of the 2017 fatalities that blazes which traditionally race through Portuguese forests every summer won't be stopped without improving forest management and ensuring that local people don't abandon rural areas.(AP Photo/Sergio Azenha, file)

Portugal's prime minister: wildfires require long-term fight

 By The Associated Press  June 17, 2019 at 8:01am
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LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal’s prime minister is warning against complacency in the fight against wildfires after huge blazes in 2017 that killed more than 100 people were followed by two years of much smaller charred areas and no deaths.

Antonio Costa said at a ceremony Monday honoring some of the 2017 fatalities that blazes which traditionally race through Portuguese forests every summer won’t be stopped without improving forest management and ensuring that local people don’t abandon rural areas.

Costa says record firefighting assets deployed by the government aren’t a long-term solution.

Wildfires blackened more than 500,000 hectares (1.23 million acres) in 2017, compared with a 10-year annual average of about 140,000 hectares.

Amid unprecedented precautions, burned forest dropped to 44,000 hectares in 2018 and just over 7,000 hectares so far this year.

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The Associated Press
The Associated Press is an independent, not-for-profit news cooperative headquartered in New York City. Their teams in over 100 countries tell the world’s stories, from breaking news to investigative reporting. They provide content and services to help engage audiences worldwide, working with companies of all types, from broadcasters to brands. Photo credit: @AP on Twitter
The Associated Press was the first private sector organization in the U.S. to operate on a national scale. Over the past 170 years, they have been first to inform the world of many of history's most important moments, from the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the bombing of Pearl Harbor to the fall of the Shah of Iran and the death of Pope John Paul.

Today, they operate in 263 locations in more than 100 countries relaying breaking news, covering war and conflict and producing enterprise reports that tell the world's stories.
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