In 2021, 44 forest fires were reported (-15 than in the previous year; -25.4%), which consumed an area of 72 hectares (1,392 hectares in 2020), of which 46 hectares of forest area (64.2% of the total).
According to the Regional Directorate of Statistics of Madeira (DREM), the burned areas of 2021 were the lowest since the first statistics were recorded in 2006 by DREM.
This year fires occurred in 7 of the 11 municipalities of the Region, with Porto Moniz, Santana, São Vicente, and Porto Santo not registering any occurrences. While the municipalities of Ribeira Brava (16 fires) and Machico (10) were seen as high risk areas. In terms of burned areas, Ribeira Brava was the most affected municipality of RAM, with 29 hectares destroyed due to fires (40.7% compared to the total).
692 effective firefighters in Madeira
According to the Regional Environmental Statistics, in the reference year (2021), the 10 existing fire brigades in the Region had 692 staff, who provide about 46,5 services (+12.2% compared to 2020), the vast majority (69.0%) related to health/pre-hospital. In the year under analysis, the expenses of fire brigades were around 13.3 million euros, +14.2% compared to 2020, of which 82.1% of which were related to personnel expenditures (82.7% in 2020).
Firefighters in AMR are characterized by being mostly male (86.7%) and aged between 26 and 50 years (68.1%).
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
Photo: JM
