Lisbon (EFE).- The President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and the Prime Minister, the conservative Luís Montenegro, announced on Friday that they have suspended their holidays as the country faces a wave of fires that has led to the activation of the European civil protection mechanism and has left one fatality.
In a statement, the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic explained that Rebelo de Sousa “interrupted his holiday and returned on Thursday to the Palácio de Belém (his official residence), where he will remain in the coming days to monitor the grave situation with the rural fires.”
A source from the Prime Minister’s office informed EFE that Montenegro had suspended his planned holidays until Aug. 22.
This announcement was made on the same day that Portugal activated the European civil protection mechanism, meaning more aerial resources will be deployed to combat the fires.
On Friday, the country’s first fatality due to the crisis was also confirmed: Carlos Dâmaso, the former president of the district municipal council, who died while fighting the flames in Vila Franca do Deão, in the municipality of Guarda (the capital of the eponymous district bordering the Spanish region of Salamanca).
Portugal’s president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, expressed his condolences to the mayor of Guarda, requesting that he convey them to the family.
The Portuguese state channel RTP, which broke the news, added that Dâmaso had been missing since Friday morning.
On Friday, emergency and civil protection bodies were fighting 57 rural fires in Portugal, which had mobilized nearly 5,100 personnel, 1,600 ground vehicles, and 34 aerial resources. EFE
cch/dgp/mcd
