Portugal urges shift from reactive to preventive wildfire strategy

Experts argue that Portugal’s recurring wildfire risk is caused by a failure to anticipate rather than a lack of information. Data from the Fixando platform shows a sharp rise in requests for land clearing, gardening and debris removal, with removal services up more than 170% between January and May 2026 compared with the previous year. Seasonal spikes in urgent calls during the hot summer months reveal that many interventions occur only after fires have ignited, straining the limited pool of contractors and driving up costs.

Critics also highlight that the 2006 Civil Protection Basic Law still governs emergency response, using only two categories—serious accident and catastrophe—and does not address prolonged outages or cascading crises. The Liberal Initiative party has drafted a proposal to replace it with a six‑phase framework that mandates continuous risk assessment, obliges operators of critical infrastructure to maintain continuity plans, creates strategic reserves, and recognises citizens as active participants with a right to clear risk information. The reform aims to shift public policy toward proactive mitigation, reduce reliance on emergency spending, and make post‑event assessments publicly available.