Our war!

We need a General for this war. Once again, as every year for decades, we witness a country burning beyond control, even when thousands of firefighters and Civil Protection are mobilized. This cannot continue.

Now that this dark phase is over, which is expected to last for many more weeks, it is urgent that the Minister of Internal Affairs take firm action. If we are at war, then she should put a general in command of all Civil Protection structures, with a clearly defined chain of command.

This is nothing new, and fortunately, in the only instance where this happened—in the war against Covid—it was a vice admiral and his chain of command who played an extraordinary role in that phase of the pandemic.

The government must seriously consider this possibility. What we cannot have is a lack of coordination in command—who's in charge here or there. A pyramidal organization, with a rigid, highly hierarchical structure, will solve this problem. And so many others that have fallen by the wayside, such as having two "Canadairs" unfit for use.

Proportionally, Portugal is the country in the European Union, and perhaps the world, with the most hectares burned and lifeless this year. This cannot be, nor can it continue. And we're still only in the third week of August. Wars are fought with a general and a highly hierarchical command.

The texts in this section reflect the authors' personal opinions. They do not represent VISÃO nor reflect its editorial position.