To support its colleagues who are fighting violent fires in the north and centre of Portugal, the Forest Fire Intervention Detachment France has sent three volunteers, including a firefighter from Riom, to Puy-de-Dôme.
Violent fires have been ravaging northern and central Portugal since Sunday, September 15. Although they appear to be slightly weakening, they are still raging on Thursday, September 19. They have caused seven deaths, including four firefighters.
Precisely, to support their Portuguese colleagues, several French firefighters are currently on site. In particular, with an association, specialized in the fight against forest and natural area fires, called Détachement intervention feux de forêts France (DIFF France): “We have 70 members throughout France who take their vacation or rest to go and volunteer to reinforce these fire stations”, indicates Maxime Taulet, the president, who is looking for partners or patrons to develop this aid.
Three French volunteers as reinforcements
Until Sunday, DIFF France has therefore sent three volunteers to the site. Among them is Ludovic de Matos, a volunteer firefighter at the Riom center: “Thanks to a cooperation protocol signed in 2018 with the Penalva do Castelo barracks (in the Viseu district), we send members who take turns every week between July and August for preventive missions and to intervene in the event of a fire. Following the announcement of the fire in the region, with a vehicle from the barracks burned and three firefighters dead in another sector, we took the decision to send members as reinforcements to lend a hand to our friends. On site, Portuguese and French people find themselves in the machines to fight the fires.”
Seven dead including three firefighters: the terrible images of the fires ravaging the north of Portugal
