Experiencing a rural fire is a harrowing experience as it may threaten your life, that of your family as well as damage to your property. Knowing what to do in the event of a fire and what self-protection measures to take could make the difference between life and death. Please take time to study this page, and familiarise yourself with the Aldeia Segura (Safe Village – Safe People) program.
This page includes how to deal with:
The steps to take are also available in Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, Russian, Chinese, French and German by clicking on the green tab “Download more useful information ” at the foot of this page” or the “Download information” tab on the right of this page.
These are two programs created by the Resolution of the Council of Ministers no. 157-A / 2017, of 27 October, in which the Government established a set of measures aimed at introducing “a systemic reform in the prevention and fight against forest fires, extending other areas of protection and relief”.
The “Aldeia Segura” program is defined as a “Program for the Protection of Populations and Forest Protection” and is intended to establish “structural measures for the protection of people and goods, and of buildings in the urban-forest interface, with the implementation and management of protection areas for clusters and strategic infrastructures, identifying critical points and places of refuge ”. In turn, the “Safe People” program aims to promote “awareness-raising actions for the prevention of risky behaviours, self-protection measures and carrying out simulations of evacuation plans, in conjunction with local authorities”.
Learn all about the Safe Village – Safe People program – download here
Having taken the steps to safe guard your house using the advice in our Land Cleaning page, next you should make an advanced plan for what you and your family will do when threatened with a rural fire. Remember due limitations of access or weather conditions, the emergency services may not be able to reach you in time so knowing what to do is vitally important – this is known as self protection.
All rural fire action plans will be different, depending on a variety of issues, needs and situations, so what is listed here are suggestions to help create a plan.
Many people plan to leave for a safer place but leave it too late. You need to identify and agree on a trigger with your family that will prompt you to leave early, and have a back-up plan in case you cannot leave in time.
The key question and decision you will have to make when developing your Action Plan is whether to:
LEAVE EARLY OR STAY AND DEFEND YOUR PROPERTY?
To help you make an informed decision, consider…
How well your home is constructed, maintained, prepared and equipped to withstand a rural fire.
Contingency plans in case the fire is more intense than expected or things don’t go to plan – rural fires being extremely unpredictable in terms of speed and direction.
The physical, mental and emotional fitness required by you and your family to cope with the impact of a rural fire. Being in a rural fire could be the most traumatic experience of your life.
Who am I putting in danger? Will any children, guests, dependents, elderly or sick household members be put at risk? If so, LEAVE EARLY
Am I able to do everything required to fight a fire without the help of firefighters? If not, LEAVE EARLY
Does everyone in the household agree with the plan to stay or leave?
Am I committed to acquiring the necessary equipment – including an Emergency Kit with protective clothing and fire-fighting equipment? If not, LEAVE EARLY
Know the indicators that will cause you to act before a fire threatens.
These indicators or ‘calls to action’ again depend on your personal issues, needs and circumstances at the time. However it is very important to predetermine a well thought-through indicator as to when you should leave your home or area in the event of a wildfire. Make this part of your Rural Fire Action Plan, discussed with all members of your household so everyone is clear about it and the possible evacuation will be achieved safely.
For example, if there are elderly or infirm people, anyone with asthma or similar breathing problems, or children in your household, you may want to act at the very earliest time – even a day or more sooner than a potential wildfire event. In which case, you should closely monitor and act on forecasts of the fire risk categories, particularly if they reach Maximum, Very High, or High in your area.
Other people may be slightly less circumspect and may monitor the information sources, the smell of smoke, wind direction and the presence of fire-fighting aircraft in the area, before deciding to stay or go.
Prepare all the people in your household. Make sure everybody, including children if they are old enough, knows the situation and what steps to take.
A designated meeting location outside the fire area. With many households having more than one car, you may evacuate in separate vehicles and could become separated. Family members may also be in different locations when the fire threatens, so a known safe meeting point is very important to determine that everyone has safely evacuated from the affected area.
The communication plan
Designate an out-of-area friend or relative as a point of contact to act as a single source of communication among family members in case of separation. It is easier to call or message one person and let them contact others than to try and call everyone when phone, cell, and internet systems may not function or be limited during a wildfire.
It is a good idea to create, print and give every household member a hard copy of the Communication Plan, plus put one in the car and in the Emergency Kit. Add the emergency services phone numbers, your phone number, address, the Google Maps GPS co-ordinates of your house, and a sketch of the escape route options you may take.
If you urgently need to call the emergency services, which usually can understand English, pronouncing your address in Portuguese may not be recognised right away, particularly if you are upset and not able to think very straight. Also some rural addresses in Portugal are no more than a village name – no house number or street name, so a GPS co-ordinate will pin-point your house. The Portuguese emergency services can access Google Maps so using this GPS format will be best.
The different escape route plans from your home and/or area. Ideally work out at least two routes, preferably more, and practice driving them if they are not familiar to you already. Program these escape routes into your vehicle GPS device so you know where you are going if the visibility is poor.
Planning wildfire escape routes may be very difficult for many households in rural Portugal where there may be only one, or two at best, exit roads from a village or isolated house, both of which may go several kilometres through thick flammable forest. Then even when you reach a main road, you may need to drive further with forest on either side before you hit that welcome town.
So until the day when adequate roadside firebreaks on all forest escape routes, early fire warning systems, public emergency communication networks, orderly evacuation drills, village fire officers, designated village fire shelters, etc, are all in place in your area, planning to leave early may be the best advice, especially as it is extremely dangerous to leave when roads maybe closed and full of smoke.
Have fire-extinguishers and water hoses handy and make sure everyone in the household knows how to use them.
Ensure everyone knows where the gas, electricity and water shut-off controls are and how to use them if necessary.
Lastly follow the instructions of the emergency services if they are their to help you.
Rural Fire Emergency Kits
When you need to evacuate from a wildfire there may be no time to lose – this is not the time start thinking about what to pack. You must leave your home as soon as physically possible which is why an easy to carry Emergency Kit is a good thing to have on hand and stored in a convenient place.
If there are several people in your household, they should each have their own Emergency Kit – if only a couple, one shared kit should be enough. Backpacks are ideal for storing the necessary items and are quick to grab. Food and water could go in a cool box light enough to easily lift into your car.
Some Considerations
If you have decided to leave for a safer place, you must do so early…
Safe Communities Portugal has translated for the ANEPC the manual on how to help prevent Rural Fires and measures to take should a fire break out. For those in areas covered by this program this includes the establishment of warning alarms and signage, escape routes, assembly points etc. This can be Downloaded in English here
Having made the decision to stay in your property or their is insufficient time to leave safely, knowing what to do in the event of a rural fire can help save your life and property. The following gives government advice on this subject which we share in accordance with the protocol Safe Communities Portugal has with the ANEPC.
During a rural fire there are various phases. When monitoring a fire through the ANEPC dashboard here, it is important to know what each phases means. The following chart shows the phases.
We all hope that we are never in a position where we are threatened by a rural fire, which is an alarming experience.
If unfortunately you do become threatened by a fire it is essential that proper steps are taken to help protect you, your family and property.
According to the Resolution of the Council of Ministers no. 157-A / 2018, of October 27, this latest program “Safe Villages – Safe People” outlines self-protection measure for the population in the event of a rural fire affecting people and their homes
The following list prepared by the Ministry of Internal Administration (updated in 2018) is based on their vast experiences outlines the basic steps to take.
The leaflets in English and other languages, translated by Safe communities Portugal, can be downloaded below.
Videos produced by the ANEPC have been published in Portuguese with English subtitles by Safe Communities Portugal can be downloaded in Portuguese here and sound cloud here .
If a fire approaches your home
If you get surrounded by a fire
In case of confinement within the building
In case of Evacuation
Have an evacuation kit prepared with:
If you are near a fire
Government Agency AGIF have produced very clear advice concerning prevention and self protection measures in Portuguese on the website Portugal Chama (Portugal is Calling) under the Safe Village – Safe People program which can be downloaded from their website here.
More information can be obtained by calling 808 200 520.
The Forest Fire Research Centre is a branch of the Association for the Development of Industrial Aerodynamics (ADAI) closely connected to the Department of Mechanical Engineering (DEM) of the Science and Technology Faculty of Coimbra`s University (FCTUC). The Forest Fire Research Centre is mainly dedicated to the applied research in the field of forest fires and fires in the wildland urban interface (WUI) namely the physical aspects of the fire.
Since 1990, the Forest Fire Research Centre, with a dynamic and multidisciplinary team, has been developing its activities in order to learn, analyse, understand, apply and disseminate the knowledge developed.
The main goal of the Forest Fire Research Centre is the promotion of scientific knowledge about the phenomena related to the occurrence and spread of wildfires in order to support the common efforts for the mitigation of their negative impacts
A YouTube video showing their work in English can be downloaded here and in Portuguese here
Safe Communities has met with Professor Domingos Xavier Viegas, Director of ADAI, who has been researcher in the field of Forest Fires namely in Fire behaviour and Fire Safety since 1985. He has kindly undertaken to help Safe Communities Portugal by providing information on this subject, which we can disseminate to local communities. Professor Viegas was the coordinator of the enquiry team into the Pedrógão Grande fires in 2017.
In a bulletin in 2018 it stated: “Smoke from fires has high levels of particulate matter and toxins that can have respiratory, cardiovascular and ophthalmological effects, among others. Main symptoms include eye, nose and throat irritation, persistent cough, shortness of breath, pain or tightness in the chest and fatigue”.
The effects of fires can be most felt on pregnant women, children, patients with breathing problems and patients with heart problems, outdoor workers, firefighters and the population involved.
Among the pollutants emitted by fires are particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide.
In order to protect populations against the main effects of smoke from fires, DGS recommends:
ANEPC advice if surrounded by a fire is to breathe close to the ground, if possible with a wet cloth, to avoid inhaling smoke
Safe Communities has assisted the Ministry of Internal Administration in the production of videos with English sub titles showing what action to take if you are affected by a fire. These were updated in 2021 and can be viewed below:
All prevention and protection information is from official sources