14.07.2022
My little land is on fire
These days my little land is on fire and people are acting like this is the first time!
I have been living here 11 and a half year and as far as I remember the fires have been every summer when the heat arrives.
There are villages all around Portugal with burned houses and they did not burn just this year.
Every year there is a heatwave in my little land
Every year the woods burn
The less trees the more extreme the heat comes, an old wise Portuguese man told me many years ago.
That is what has happened. The fires during the summers have destroyed more and more trees.
Why are all these fires here in my little land?
Why are they; who makes them?
This is something we cannot talk about
We can not talk about that more than 90 percent of the fires might be manmade
We can not talk about that there are companies that profit from the fires!
We can not talk about the crazy people who light the fires just to see them burning!
No, we cannot talk about this.
One thing we can talk about.
This is not the first time and let us just remember 2017 and how it was then in October.
I remember 2017 very well.
I also remember when I had lived in Penela 2 years and there was a fire in the village.
I remember the people going up to the castle where they could see the fires roaring and spending the day enjoying the sight!
I remember these things well because I was new and I didn’t understand how people could enjoy watching the fires.
What can be done?
How can we prevent the fires every summer, year after year?
I have seen one man taken this year. There are more of them. The authorities must know about them, or at least some of them.
I am angry and I am sad.
I wish I could tell you what I know but I can’t.
Is there any solution?
I think there is, but the authorities have to act.
The people have to unite to rip this problem up with roots and change the mentality.
If there are companies that profit from the fires the authorities have to act.
Manmade fires are preventable.
Let us unite and do what we can to safe our little land.
Hulda Bjornsdottir
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