Speaking to the Lusa news agency, the PCP-backed presidential candidate was asked about the country's current fire situation and identified "a structural problem" in this regard.

"Firstly, because firefighting is mainly carried out in winter, that is, through a prevention policy and, specifically, cleaning forests and repopulating the interior of the country, and therefore, this part of the country that should have been addressed but wasn't," he lamented.

According to António Filipe, whenever there is "a particularly difficult year in terms of rural fires," a commission is appointed to "study the situation, establish a diagnosis, and make recommendations," which he noted has happened several times over the past few decades.

"The problem is that many of the recommendations remain on paper, and when we have a more complicated climate situation, the fires return with great intensity, and that's what we're seeing," he said.

Considering that "every precaution is insufficient to prevent fires," for the PCP-backed presidential candidate, when they do occur, "it is necessary to support firefighters as much as possible" and "mobilise all available resources, including the need to seek assistance from countries that can provide it."

When asked if he believes Portugal should have already activated the European Civil Protection Mechanism, António Filipe argued that this "is an assessment that civil protection authorities should make."

"They are better qualified than I to do this. I believe that if we see difficulties that cannot be overcome with our resources, this support should be requested, and the Civil Protection authorities will determine if it is necessary," he argued.

For the former communist deputy, "what is needed is to mobilize all available resources at this stage to fight the fires" and then discuss the issue to see what needs to be changed in prevention policies.

"Unfortunately, we have all seen this for many years, but then the measures end up being woefully insufficient in terms of prevention," he lamented, considering that "paper can handle everything," but then the problem is putting it into practice.

António Filipe also called for the firefighting career to become more attractive.

"We need young people to be attracted to the firefighting career and to be willing to become firefighters, but for that to happen, there need to be incentives that currently don't exist," he urged.

On the other hand, the State must guarantee support so that humanitarian firefighting associations “have sufficient resources to work.”