Portugal is preparing for this year’s wildfire season with an exercise involving a fire similulation tackled by more than 700 operations from six European countries.
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Crews from Cyprus, Spain, France, Poland and the Czech Republic joined their Portuguese colleagues for the almost week-long exercise set against the backdrop of a large, fast-spreading rural fire.
The European civil protection exercise PT EU MODEX 2026 took place in the town of Macieira with real resources on the ground and simulated operational scenarios, affecting large areas of forest and several residential areas, but with no real risk to the local population.
Organized by the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC), in collaboration with the international consortium APELL-EUROMODEX as part of the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism, the exercise aimed to test and strengthen the joint and integrated response capacity at national and European level in the face of complex emergency scenarios, with a special focus on rural fires.
As well as fighting wildfires, it also tested the evacuation of populations, support for affected communities, the coordination of national and international resources and the reception and integration of foreign teams.
The EU MODEX exercisesfunded by the European Union, aim to strengthen international cooperation and ensure a more effective and coordinated response in disaster situations.
During the first day of the exercise, work was carried out on coordinating, setting up and organizing the operation, which was essential for the start of the simulated scenario. An alert situation was also declared in the municipality and the Municipal Emergency and Civil Protection Plan was activated.
The commander of the Viseu Dão Lafõe Sub-regional Emergency and Civil Protection Command, Miguel Ângelo David, said that one of the issues tested was the self-sufficiency of the modules in terms of food, transport logistics, overnight stays and rotation of operations.
“It’s not a normal exercise, like a drill. We’re playing with the time factor, but above all we’re talking about procedures. In the end, the international modules will obtain their certification or recertification [from the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism],” he said.
Last year, Portugal deployed thousands of firefighters to combat fires as temperatures soared, with the majority of the country on high alert for heat risk.
Portugal’s National Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF) said that, by mid-July, wildfires had occurred burned through 10,768 hectares of land, three times more than in the same period last year.
Fires in the country, the ICNF said, have become more aggressive since 2017.