PORTUGAL SAFETY AND SECURITY REPORT WEDNESDAY 10TH SEPTEMBER 2025
Good afternoon. Almost serving as a reminder that we are not yet out of the fire season, was the fire on Monday in Santo António De Monforte, Chaves in the north of Portugal which at one stage required the deployment of around 250 operatives and 11 aircraft. Actually which I say fire season, I mean the time of year when the fire risk is generally higher; although as we know there is a tendency for fires to start at any time of the year, especially during periods of heatwaves.
Portugal has just experienced its longest heatwave lasting 20 days. The effects of this allowed fires (over 95% caused by human hands) to develop and spread quickly, due to dryness of the vegetation, high temperatures and winds. The situation was exacerbated by the difficulty in accessing fire scenes by firefighters on the ground in some areas. Also on occasions due to the large amount of smoke, it was unsafe for firefighting aircraft to operate. The quick aerial response during the daytime was not available during the night time, when several fires broke out.
Studies show that the hot, dry, and windy conditions that fuelled the fires in Spain and Portugal are now about 40 times more frequent and about 30% more intense than they would be in a world without climate change.
The wildfires in Europe show that the current 1.3°C of warming is already incredibly dangerous. If we don’t move away from fossil fuels, which release large amounts of carbon dioxide more quickly, we could reach 3°C this century. Wildfires at this level would be catastrophic.
Read more about this in our Feature in the Portugal Resident out tomorrow 11th September
Turning from land to sea. Four months into the 2025 Beach Season, the National Maritime Authority has recorded 1,007 rescues, 3,561 first aid operations, and 16 fatalities on Portuguese beaches between May 1st and August 31st. of the fatalities. This is a very large number and most are preventable if people simply followed the warnings that are in place. We ask people to take care and use beach where there are lifeguards.
Last week we warned that whenever there is heavy rain following rural fires, is the instability of slopes, increased by the removal of vegetation cover, or by artificial soil development, which also leads to the risk of mass movements (landslides, collapses and others), increased by water infiltration. Locations that are downhill and downstream from burned areas are also in the following circumstances susceptible to flash flooding and debris lows, especially in and near steep terrain.
There was in face less rain than expected so it is important therefore that when we do finally get heavy rain to be on the lookout for slope instability. In particular be especially care when driving in roads where there are steep burned slopes.
Finally a reminder that the Judicial Police has created an official information hotline dedicated to officials and the families of the victims of the tragic Elevador da Glória accident: Phone: 211 968 000; E-mail chefepiquetelx@pj.pt For effective and agile performance of this service, it is requested that only family members, close friends and official entities use it.
We wish you a good week ahead
News
Almost half of Portuguese adults can only understand simple, short texts
You have to get almost to the end of the table published in the report “Education at a Glance 2025”, released this Tuesday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), to find Portugal
Four in 10 Portuguese people aged between 25 and 64 can only understand simple, short texts, according to a report released this Tuesday that shows Portugal among the countries with the lowest levels of literacy proficiency.
Second among 30 countries with the lowest level of literacy proficiency, 46% of Portuguese people aged between 25 and 64 have great difficulty interpreting texts and can only understand very short texts with minimal irrelevant information.
The conclusion comes from the survey of adult skills, conducted within the framework of the OECD’s Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC)
With five proficiency levels, ranging from the ability to identify information in short texts (level 1) to the ability to synthesize and critically evaluate complex information (level 5), nearly half of Portuguese people scored at level 1 or below, a percentage much higher than the OECD average (27%).
Behind Portugal was only Chile, where 57% of respondents also did not go beyond level 1.
On the other hand, around a third of respondents in Portugal are able to integrate information from multiple sources, and 18% went a little further and demonstrated that they were able to interpret and evaluate complex texts.
At the highest levels (4 and 5) only 3% of Portuguese scored, the same percentage in Poland and Slovakia and lower only in Chile and Lithuania (both 2%), while the OECD average is 12%.
The analysis of these results within the scope of Education at a Glance 2025 also reveals that the level of education and skills are closely linked.
In Portugal, for example, adults with higher education demonstrated greater ease in understanding and analysing texts, achieving, on average, 36 points more than those with only secondary education and nearly 70 points more than those surveyed without completing the 12th grade.
Literacy proficiency levels are also related, on the other hand, to the commitment to training, with adults with better skills being more likely to participate in education or training.
According to the survey’s findings, by 2023, 80% of adults at literacy proficiency levels 4 or 5 had completed some formal or informal course or training in the last year, while only 22% of those at level 1 or below had done so.
The trial of the couple accused of triple homicide in Bragança has begun.
Nélida Guerreiro and Sidney Martins, who became known as the Portuguese Bonnie & Clyde, are facing charges of a triple homicide between parents and son, which occurred in the parish of Donai, near Bragança, in 2022. The pair had devised a scheme to steal drugs and valuables.
The trial of the couple accused of robbing and murdering a family began this Monday in Bragança, Bragança. The crime is particularly shocking and includes charges of setting fire to the victims’ homes in an attempt to cover their tracks and dispose of the bodies.
They became known as the Portuguese Bonnie & Clyde and are now serving nine-year prison sentences for robbery and kidnapping in several gas station robberies in the Algarve.
They are also the perpetrators of several armed robberies in Spain, where they were captured after having fled.
Nélida Guerreiro and Sidney Martins are responding to a new triple homicide case that occurred in the parish of Donai, near Bragança, in 2022.
The crime victimized a family—parents and son. According to the prosecution, the defendant had an apparent romantic relationship with the couple’s son, a 40-year-old man, who supplied her with drugs, even though she was living in a de facto relationship with the defendant, both of whom were drug users.
The duo devised a scheme to steal drugs, valuables, and money from the victim. This plan was attempted on July 9, 2022.
The crime
Taking advantage of the victim’s absence, the defendant entered his residence, but was surprised by his mother, who stabbed him 10 times, causing fatal injuries.
Ten days later, on the night of July 19, the defendant, intending to eliminate evidence of the previous crime and carry out the planned robbery, returned to the same residence. He went to the couple’s son’s room, where the defendant was already.
Together, the pair killed the man with 17 stab wounds. They then attacked the father, who had woken up to the noise, stabbing him 24 times, which were also fatal.
Then, in order to hide the evidence and dispose of the bodies, the defendants set fire to two rooms in the house.
For all these reasons, they are accused of murder, desecration of a corpse, theft, assault on physical integrity and arson.