The probe comes following complaints from fire-fighters that meals were inadequate when taking into consideration the time firefighters spent on the frontline battling fires.
Images of ‘sandwiches’ supplied to fire-fighters consisting of just bread and butter without any filling have also been published this week by newspaper Jornal de Notícias.
Newspaper Público reports fire-fighters, associations and unions have. for a couple of months now been trying to raise awareness about the quality of meals supplied to the men and women tackling fires.
The first complaints about food, Público states, emerged after the large fires in Pinhal Interior Norte, scene of the Pedrógão Grande fire in mid-June.
According to the report, the main complaints are that food supplied to fuel the firefighters has been “poor, served outside main meal times and scarce” and many times the units have had to ask the local populations for help.
In a statement sent to Lusa News Agency, the ministry said that an inquiry has been ordered by the secretary of state, Jorge Gomes, and that the results are to be submitted by 30 September.
The inquiry, it stated, “is based on several reports, according to which the meals are inappropriate, in view of the strain that operatives are under on this kind of mission.”
It is up to the ANPC, the National Civil Protection Association, to pay for the meals for operatives participating in fighting fires.
The meals supplied have the following costs: €7 per lunch or dinner, plus €1.80 for breakfast, afternoon snack and two other snacks, for a daily total of €21.20 per operative.
The ministry notes that it is local fire corporations and councils, in the area where fires are taking place, that are responsible for providing logistical support, including meals.
In Portugal, according to figures from this year’s national census of fire fighters, there are about 66,000 firefighters.
The head of the National Professional Fire-fighters’ Association Fernando Curto, told Público that firefighters have been trying to denounce the food situation for several months and affirmed “it is poorly-made food, often without any quality, and delivered outside of the adequate meal times.”
He went on to add that while the situation “is not widespread” it is a shame “there is no uniformity in the food that is served” between the various locales where fires broke out, and further lamented “a lack of inspections.”