The deadline for carrying out fuel management work on the secondary network of management strips, initially scheduled for the end of April, was postponed by a month due to the “weather conditions observed in recent weeks”, reads a statement.

Persistent rainfall and high levels of soil moisture “have made it difficult to carry out work on the ground,” explains the Government.

“With this redefinition of the deadline, the Government intends to guarantee the effectiveness of prevention interventions and reinforce the protection of people, assets and ecosystems against the risk of rural fires”, it stresses.

The National Federation of Forest Owners Associations (FNAPF) had already announced over the weekend that it would ask the government for a “month and a half” extension to the deadline, due to weather conditions.

According to provisional data from the GNR provided to the Lusa agency, between February 16 and March 20, in the 18 districts of the mainland, 7,192 plots of land have already been identified for cleaning.

Leiria is the district with the most land marked, 1,878, followed by Santarém, with 828, and Coimbra, with 610, while the three districts with the least land referenced are, to date, Évora (18), Portalegre (26) and Porto (124).