Top brass at the National Civil Protection Authority have pointed out 'serious errors and omissions' in the report into the Pedrógão Grande fire, claiming it was impossible to predict its ‘extreme development.’
Civil protection chiefs have rejected criticism of their personnel as detailed in the report drawn up by the independent commission to analyse what happened in the Pedrógão Grande fire and have pointed out, what it calls, 'grave omissions, errors and contradictions.'
According to a document issued today from the National Civil Protection Authority, sent to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, not a single member of the authority’s top brass was contacted or interviewed by the commission of inquiry's experts.
The document contests 30 points in the fire report and states that the flaws described, did not happen or were due to the 'extreme complexity' of the fire that left 64 dead and more than 250 injured.
The document also accuses the independent commission of not talking to the national operational commander, who has since resigned, nor other "absolutely crucial people" who were involved in the fire.
The authority’s statement claims that the fire report has "errors and omissions in the analysis of facts that contain contradictions, thus confusing the conclusions," and considers that there are parts of the report that have "the clear purpose of taking the reader, the ordinary citizen, ignorant of the intricacies of the operational response, to formulate the opinion that there was ineptitude displayed by the National Command of Relief Operations.
In this document, the authority asks that its rebuttal be made public, "out of respect for the victims and the good name of the institution and its personnel."
In response, the chairman of the independent commission said that the top civil protection managers were heard and that everything in the report is "well documented."
"The report was based on testimony and documentation - the National Civil Protection Authority’s own documentation - provided to the independent technical commission during the process of preparing the report."
"Everything that is written in the report is supported by statements and documents that we analysed, debated and included in the report," said the inquiry’s chairman, João Guerreiro, adding that the relief operations commanders were heard and the very top of the ANPC also was heard including the authority’s president and the commander, Rui Esteves.
"There is no doubt about what is in the report of the independent technical commission ... we interviewed almost 180 people, analysed various documents, much of them provided by the ANPC itself," added João Guerreiro.
In the meantime, Portugal is under a severe fire warning. Temperatures will reach above 30°C on Friday "in much of the country,” which, coupled with a rise in wind speed from Friday, will "significantly" increase the risk of forest fires, according to the national weather service.
"Late October is hot and very dry. The temperatures are well above the normal values for the season, with a small rise expected on Friday and maximum temperatures above 30ºC expected," according to the IPMA.
