Analyzing Portugal's Devastating Wildfire (Full Episode) | Witness to Disaster | National Geographic

Portugal’s worst wildfires came in October of that same year. Dozens of people also lost their lives, and the area burned was incomparably greater. I was caught in the middle of it.

I feel profound sorrow for the more than 60 people who died in the fire depicted in this documentary. But the fact that “only” more than 40 people died in October was largely a matter of sheer luck.

I was travelling with my seven-year-old son on a bus carrying more than 50 people. That bus made five journeys from the railway station to the shelter where we eventually spent the night. On each journey, the driver could barely see the road through the smoke.

Had just one of those trips gone wrong, the death toll in October could have been far worse. We were saved by the fact that the driver travelled that stretch of road every day and knew it so well that he could almost have driven it blindfolded.

At several points, he made the sign of the cross as we approached places where he knew we would have to pass through areas in which the bus was at serious risk of catching fire.

2017 was a terribly sad year.

Almost 10 years have passed since this disaster in our country and ZERO measures have been taken from our government to mitigate eucalyptus spreading & mono culture the biggest threat to our population and native forest. its a matter of time until unfortunately something like this happens again if nothing changes!!

I volunteered in the aftermath. I cannot put into words the devastation as soon as we entered the burnt land. All of us in the car went silent for the rest of the journey.

Woooow, I'm perplexed...... Who would have guessed that covering huge swathes of land with pyrophyte trees (trees that have naturally evolved to thrive in and spread fires) would go wrong...... I mean, it's not like Portugal has had wildfires every year since recorded history or anything..... What a shock.....

My heart goes out to all the direct and indirect victims of Portugal's yearly wildfires, whose lives or livelihoods have been destroyed because of the paper industry lobby, government corruption and neglect, and overall extractivism and profit-driven territorial planning.

My parents were scheduled to drive through that road at the exact time the fire swept through.
They were saved because a friend had called a couple of hours earlier inviting to a party elsewhere.
I still have shivers when I see the images of that damned day… never ever take your loved ones for granted ❤️

We live 60 km away and, the day after the fire, we had black ashes covering everything on our patio.
A day Portugal will never forget, for the worst reasons.
May those victims rest in peace
🕊🕊🕊🕊

42:37 "...I'm pretty sure that a disaster fire like this can happen again", well it happened again on 15 October the same year.

The worst of this tragedy is knowing that this could happen all over again. Little to none was done in the meantime to ensure we never have to witness this horror again

I am Portuguese, and it was with immense sadness that I watched this tragedy on television. The terrible situation of the inhabitants of those villages was shown daily on television. It was not easy to overcome this episode. Many still bear the "scars" and trauma of this event. My heartfelt thanks to everyone, to our courageous firefighters💪🏼, and to all others.

So that people understand, in 2017, between April and October, it didn't rain a single day in Continental Portugal.

Todos os que morreram neste fogo, serão lembrados para sempre. 😢

in october it was the same in that year 44 more people dead.. we dont forget

Eycalyptus is also very damaging to the soil... it grows very fast, it consumes a lot of water and nutrients from the soil.. it "poisons" the soil.

For foreigners, this happens in Portugal every year. Wherever there is a forest, it burns without control. The difference that year is that people died. Every year is roulette, always a tragedy waiting to happen

Nine years later, still too painful to watch...

Muito bom documentário. Acho que nenhum de nós o esquecerá, a minha família era para ter ido às piscinas nesse dia, mas a minha mãe teve uma crise de ansiedade que os levou a não ir . Abençoada ansiedade nunca tomem as vossas forças como fraquezas. Boa tradução para português hoje em dia é difícil encontrar uma tradução boa no YouTube. Que Deus e a nossa população olhem pelas nossas terras que prezamos e respeitemos . Que descansem em paz 🕊️ 🤍🤍

I'm portuguese and I live in Leiria... I witnessed all this horror...the sky turned orange and the ashes flyed km....😢😢🥵

Later that same year, in 15 of October, 50 more people died from several wildfires. In total 115 people died in Portugal that year from the fires. Terrible year.

If you broadcast a global report that is on top in Europe, out of courtesy can you please at least write ALSO the degree in Celsius.

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