Portugal forest fires kill 43 near Coimbra

[Gerald]

A catastrophic forest fire in Portugal has claimed at least 43 lives, officials say.
Many died while trying to flee the Pedrógão Grande area, 50 km (30 miles) south-east of Coimbra, in their cars, according to the government.
Several firefighters are among the 59 people injured.
"Unfortunately this seems to be the greatest tragedy we have seen in recent years in terms of forest fires," said Prime Minister Antonio Costa.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40316934

The whole of Europe seems to burn.

[Rhodes]

Yep, every year is the same feces (pardon for the word,but it is what's best to describe). If a heat wave or just rising temperatures to the normal degrees of the season, fires just begin. Some abruptly others not. A few by natural causes and others by criminal hand, unfortunately.
But this situation... this time, it just turned ugly. Hopefully, it can be a wake up call to resolve the forests situations in the country and get something done.

[Eichhörnchen]

I said to Moira earlier today that I was wondering if 'Rhodes' was OK, but that you probably (from your photography) live near the coast. Stay safe, buddy

[Schroeder]

Horrible events there.
At least it wasn't arson as it is so often the case.

[Rhodes]

Originally Posted by Eichhörnchen

I said to Moira earlier today that I was wondering if 'Rhodes' was OK, but that you probably (from your photography) live near the coast. Stay safe, buddy

Yep, but we already had similar situations here, My town has hills/mountain +/- 3km North (but it is in the city area) and it already burned all twice, once in 1993 and the other in 2005, fortunately, there were no victims.

Originally Posted by Schroeder

Horrible events there.
At least it wasn't arson as it is so often the case.

Even so, this could not and should not happen! 63 death and 135 hounded is the last count.

[Jimbuna]

Can't even begin to imagine what it must have been like. trapped in a car with no escape route

[BrucePartington]

It wasn't always like this.
I remember two things people did when I was growing up:
a) Pine trees were often "milked" for their sap, and
b)people in rural areas used to collect fallen branches and dried up bushes from the forests around them, to make beds for their animals, thus effectively cleaning up the forests.
Now, every summer is tragedy season.
When it's arson, it is to benefit either people in the wood business or construction. Some areas are protected (think AONB) and development is denied. In more than one occasion, an AONB area was released for development after burning completely.
Can you spell "corruption"?

[Commander Wallace]

It's hard to imagine the tragic events there. Thoughts and prayers to those involved or affected by this tragedy.

[Mr Quatro]

I counted a lot more than 43 cars and trucks burned just on the news shows ... surely some of them got away running for their dear lives I bet.

[Jimbuna]

It was being reported yesterday that a water-dropping plane had crashed while fighting the forest fires but there is still no official confirmation.

[Rhodes]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

It was being reported yesterday that a water-dropping plane had crashed while fighting the forest fires but there is still no official confirmation.

It didn't happened. A trailer with some gas bottles was caught by the fire front and exploded when a Canadair was doing the water drop, so it was thought that was a plane that crashed, but it was denied in the press conference about the day situation status.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Rhodes

It didn't happened. A trailer with some gas bottles was caught by the fire front and exploded when a Canadair was doing the water drop, so it was thought that was a plane that crashed, but it was denied in the press conference about the day situation status.

Ah, okay, thanks for clearing that one up.

[MaDef]

out of curiosity does Europe not have an integrated wildfire fighting program?

[fireftr18]

Originally Posted by MaDef

out of curiosity does Europe not have an integrated wildfire fighting program?

I haven't heard anything specific about Europe. I know US and Canada, and they work together. Australia, New Zealand, Russia, China, and South Africa all have a national program. The difference as you can see, other than New Zealand, I named large land area countries.

[MaDef]

Originally Posted by fireftr18

I haven't heard anything specific about Europe. I know US and Canada, and they work together. Australia, New Zealand, Russia, China, and South Africa all have a national program. The difference as you can see, other than New Zealand, I named large land area countries.

I was actually not thinking area but more along the lines of an agency specifically tasked with fighting forest/brush fires Like we have out here in the western U.S.