Forest Fire Management Vocational Training Team

The Rotary Foundation’s Vocational Training Team (VTT) between Portugal’s Ponta Delgada, S. Miguel (Açores) (District 1960) and the Rotary Club of Ballarat South was designed to build forest fire management capacity and capability in Portugal.

Across the entire rural landscape of Portugal there exists a community at risk from forest fires. This is mainly due to the large areas of land planted with Australian eucalyptus trees, which were introduced into Portugal by Sir Joseph Banks in the late 18th century. The species thrived in the country, where the fast-growing trees were used for reforestation and to prevent erosion. In the mid-20th century eucalypts provided raw material for the paper and paper pulp industry.

Following a major inquiry into the devastating 2017 bushfires, which claimed 112 lives, Portugal made a significant change in its fire management policy, moving from a focus on fire suppression to a primary focus on improved land management to reduce fire risk. It is in this area of forest fire management that the newly created Portuguese agency, the Agency for Integrated Management of Rural Fire (AGIF), sought Australia’s assistance.

A Rotary Foundation global grant for community economic development provided the funding to cover the cost of experts from Australia to travel to Portugal, and for Portuguese people to travel to Australia for prescribed burning experience. The grant application was approved on October 7, 2020, with a commencement date expected to be in May 2021; however, health and travel restrictions due to COVID-19 caused a delay in the VTT’s implementation until November 2022.

A highly qualified Australian team was formed providing around 150 years of combined forest fire management expertise. The training covered prescribed burning for bushfire mitigation; bushfire preparedness and predictive services; bushfire incident management; and guidance in global collaborative bushfire research across multiple organisations and disciplines within Portugal.

The second phase of the VTT shall occur after Easter this year, when Portuguese fire managers will travel to Western Australia to attend the Bushfire Centre of Excellence, where they will receive formal and hands-on training in prescribed burning.