Western Europe is currently experiencing a heat wave that exceeds records and firefighters are struggling to contain the spread of forest fires. In Portugal, more than 30,000 hectares have burned, thousands of people have been evacuated and the authorities have recorded more than 1,000 deaths. In Algrave, in Vale do Lobo, “the emergency services are so overstretched that the majority of firefighters working to protect [les résidences secondaires luxueuses de la ville] are volunteer reservists. An unlikely group of volunteers supports them: 25 “fire keepers” made up of a majority of retired expatriates,” reports the British daily The Times.
The group of volunteers, called “Forest Fire Alert Association” is active from May to October. Members take turns to monitor the fires in real time based on reports from locals and a network of cameras in the forests. “All the warning signs of a fire are listed in a national database, which helps firefighters in their interventions, ” Explain The Times.
The association also distributes basic necessities to volunteer firefighters, called firefighters, who work all night. These latter “earn about 7 euros per hour and are expected to work two extra days a month on a voluntary basis during the summer, ” specifies the daily.
In addition, these expatriate “fire keepers” answer questions from residents who are there but also from owners of second homes who have remained in the United Kingdom and who are worried about their residence.
A British expat behind the initiative
Debby Burton, a 59-year-old expat started the charity after the 2016 fires.”It all started with a Facebook page where English-speaking residents could message each other to report seeing smoke […] I went to ask my neighborhood fire station what they needed and they said, ‘everything’. They are truly the Cinderellas of Portugal, ” raconte Debby Burton.
“We do what we can to help the brave firefightersbecause they really have nothing, ” emphasizes Lizee McGraw, a 76-year-old Scottish woman who monitors fire alerts around residential areas for the association. “Some days I can see over 100 fires on my screen, ” says the volunteer. In mid-July, thanks to a rapid evacuation from Vale do Lobo, which was threatened by flames, no one was injured. Unfortunately, this was not the case further north near the town of Palmela. 400 hectares of farmland burned and 12 people were injured.
16,787 French nationals were living in Portugal at the end of 2020, according to the French Embassy.