The 2018-2022 balance sheet, highlights that the Portuguese “managed to avoid the disaster” and “the main objective was achieved after the 2017 catastrophe”, in which the fires caused more than 100 deaths.

AGIF reports that, in five years, zero direct civilian fatalities in fires have been recorded, as a result of the work done “in close collaboration with the population”, which allowed to guarantee “timely warning in case of danger, ensure the routine of evacuation in time, keeping the circulation routes clean, involving the owners in the cleaning of vegetation around their dwellings and ensuring that the self-protection measures in case of fire are known”.

AGIF also mentions that comparing the periods 2007-2017 and 2018-2022, the total number of fires was reduced by half and there was a “trend towards a reduction in the average number of fires on days of greater danger”.

The agency, whose mission is to carry out the planning, strategic coordination, and evaluation of the Integrated Management System for Rural Fires (SGIFR), also points out that, after 2017, “there was a significant decrease in the number of fires due to the use of fire in the months of summer, being the accidental causes those that least diminished

According to the report, arson was the main cause in the summer months.

The 2018-2022 balance sheet also reports on the “reduction in the number of fires over 500 hectares”, stressing that the largest fires have reduced since 2017, when there were on average 19 fires over 1000 hectares, while in recent years they have been, on average, eight.