Wildfires are getting worse across the world. 21 years of NASA satellite data shows severe blazes have more than doubled in frequency since 2003 and the six most extreme years since records began have come since 2017.
Portugal and Spain’s wildfire season now starts earlier, ends later, with increasingly intense fires causing more death and destruction.
Seven people died and 50 injured in the September fires in central Portugal in 2024 and the fear felt in the villages around Viseu is real.
“Of course there’s a lot of fear during the wildfires, lots of fear and worry,” Vitor Gomes, a local farmer and shepherd told CGTN. “Not just for us but for the animals too. They feel fear too, they suffer stress and anxiety just like us.”
How mountain goats help the fight
One novel EU program called the Life Landscape Fire Project is now using mountain goats with the munchies to fight these fires before …