The Government decided, on Tuesday, to extend the deadline for forest owners and producers to clean forests and land by another month.
The deadline, which ended on April 30, was extended until May 31, as indicated in the joint order from the Minister of Internal Administration and the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries.
In a statement, the Government explains that “the decision is related to the rainfall recorded in recent months and the high water content in the soil, which affected many of the fuel management operations and encouraged the rapid growth of vegetation in areas already intervened.” ”.
“Weather forecasts indicate that, in the month of May, adequate conditions will be maintained to safely carry out fuel management activities and that, therefore, this additional period will allow operations to be carried out in all necessary locations” , they refer.
“Vegetation management within the secondary network of fuel management lanes constitutes one of the pillars of integrated rural fire management policyespecially in terms of protection against rural fires – ensuring greater effectiveness in defending people, animals and property against the spread of fires –, as well as in terms of rural fire management – allowing the mitigation of the annual number of occurrences”, reads- if still in the Government note.
The Municipality of Fafe remembers the fundamental rules for cleaning operations, which must be carried out by owners, tenants, usufructuaries who hold land in rural areas (forest and agricultural land), as well as owners of the population clusters of Campo Fronteiro – Pedraído; Lustoso – Paços; Mós – Aboim; Passadouro – Estorãos; Ribeira – Queimadela; Sanfins – Travassós and Santa Cruz – Queimadela.
– The Fuel Management Strip around each building located in a rural space (forest, woodland or natural pasture) must be no less than 50 meters wide;
– In the case of population clusters inserted in or bordering forest spaces, the minimum width is 100 meters;
– The tops of trees and shrubs must be at least 5 meters from buildings, exceptions being allowed in the case of trees with special heritage or landscape value;
– The distance between the tree tops must be at least 4 meters, but 10 meters in the case of maritime pines or eucalyptus, as they are highly flammable species;
– Leftovers must be disposed of after cleaning.
This cleaning must respect some legally protected tree species, such as oak, cork oak, holm oak, holly and others, duly marked.
