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Preparing for Wildfire Season in Portugal

Researched and written with AI tools from official sources. How we make our guides

How to clear land around your house, read the fire danger map, get civil protection alerts, and what to do if a wildfire comes near your home in Portugal.

The Portugal Brief 9 min read

Preparing for Wildfire Season in Portugal

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

  • You own, rent, or use land near a house, a village, or woodland in mainland Portugal.
  • You live in the countryside or on the edge of a town and want to know what to do if a fire comes.
  • You are buying a rural property and want to know the clearing duties.

Not for you if: you want to know what your home insurance pays after a fire. Read Getting Home Insurance in Portugal instead.

If you hold land near a building in a rural area of mainland Portugal, the law says you must manage the vegetation on it every year. Around a house next to woodland, the strip is 50 metres wide, or 10 metres on farmland. Around a village, it is 100 metres.

The government sets the deadline each year; in 2026 it was 31 May, or 30 June in councils hit by the winter storms. If you do not do it, you can be fined and the council can do the work and bill you. On days of very high or maximum fire danger, fires, burning, and many machines are banned. In a fire, call 112.

Who must clear land

The duty falls on whoever holds the land: owners, tenants of the land, holders of a life interest (usufructuaries), and anyone else who has it on any basis. It applies even if you do not own the building the strip protects.

Road, rail, and power companies clear their own strips. Managers of campsites, hotels, industrial areas, and similar sites clear theirs.

These rules apply on the mainland. The Azores and Madeira have their own regional rules.

How wide the strip is

WhereStrip widthWho clears it
Land within 50 metres of a building used as a home or for business, if the strip covers woodland50 metres from the outer wallWhoever holds the land in the strip
The same, if the strip covers farmland10 metres from the outer wallWhoever holds the land in the strip
Built-up areas, such as villages, next to woodland100 metres from the edge of the built-up areaWhoever holds the land in the strip
Campsites, hotels, industrial and business areas, fuel stations, landfills100 metresThe site manager or owner
Private access road to a houseAt least 10 metres on each sideWhoever holds the land

The 50-metre rule does not apply to sheds, annexes, and other minor structures. Regional fire plans can make a strip up to 50% wider or narrower where the risk justifies it. Inside towns and villages, the council's own rules apply.

If a road runs beside your house, the 50 metres still count from the house, on both sides of the road.

What "clearing" means

Managing fuel does not mean cutting everything down. The aim is to break the fire's path, both upward into the trees and sideways along the ground. New technical rules took effect in January 2026.

Within 2 metres of the walls. Remove all dry leaves, grass, shrubs, and trees. Where you can, make a non-flammable strip, such as gravel, paving, or bare earth. This also applies to annexes, porches, and pergolas.

From 2 to 10 metres. Remove or thin trees and shrubs. Single trees may stay if:

  • Their lower branches are cut to half the tree's height, until the tree reaches 8 metres. Above 8 metres, cut to at least 4 metres from the ground.
  • The gap between tree crowns is more than 4 metres.
  • Shrubs stay below the maximum heights in the table below, with gaps between them.

From 10 metres to the edge of the strip. Prune trees the same way. Keep shrubs low and with gaps between them.

Everywhere in the strip:

  • Tree and shrub crowns must be at least 5 metres from the building, and must not hang over the roof.
  • Do not store firewood, timber, farm waste, or flammable materials, unless they are shut away.
  • Avoid hedges. A broken hedge more than 5 metres from the building is allowed.

Maximum shrub height:

Share of the ground covered by shrubsMaximum height
Up to 20%1.25 m
20% to 30%0.70 m
30% to 40%0.60 m
40% to 50%0.45 m
50% to 60%0.35 m
60% to 80%0.30 m
Over 80%0.25 m

Broadleaf trees that lose their leaves, such as chestnuts, burn less easily, and the rules encourage them. You can keep chestnuts near the house if they are more than 5 metres from it, pruned, and more than 4 metres apart.

Trees you may not cut. Cutting or pruning cork oaks (sobreiros) or holm oaks (azinheiras) needs prior authorisation from the ICNF, the nature and forests institute. Cutting wild holly is banned. Work in protected areas, Natura 2000 sites, or next to rivers has its own rules. Ask your council's forestry office (Gabinete Técnico Florestal) before you start.

The deadline, and what happens if you miss it

The government sets the deadline by order each year, and can set different dates by region. In 2026, the deadline was 31 May. Councils under a declared state of calamity after the winter storms had until 30 June. Check each year's date on the civil protection website (prociv.gov.pt) or your council's site.

If you miss it:

  1. The council notifies you to do the work, with a date to start and finish.
  2. If you still do not do it, the council does it for you and charges you. It can take over the land for as long as the work takes, ask the police for help to get in, and sell any valuable timber to cover its costs.
  3. You can be fined. Failing to clear the strip around a building is a minor environmental offence. Fines for individuals are €200 to €2,000 if careless, or €400 to €4,000 if deliberate. For companies, they are €2,000 to €18,000, or €6,000 to €36,000. Failing to clear the 100-metre strip around a village is a serious offence: €2,000 to €20,000 for individuals if careless, or €4,000 to €40,000 if deliberate.

The GNR (the rural police) checks the strips. To report land that has not been cleared, call the GNR's SOS Environment and Territory line on 808 200 520, open 24 hours a day, or tell your council.

Fire danger levels and the bans that follow

IPMA, the weather institute, and the ICNF set the rural fire danger for each council every day. There are five levels: reduced (reduzido), moderate (moderado), high (elevado), very high (muito elevado), and maximum (máximo). Check your council on IPMA's fire danger page (ipma.pt).

On days of very high or maximum danger in your council, at any time of year:

  • No burning of land (queimadas). No burning of piles of garden or farm waste, unless the council authorises it in an exceptional case, such as a compulsory plant health burn.
  • No bonfires for leisure or festivals.
  • Cooking with fire only in places set up for it, such as equipped picnic parks.
  • No sky lanterns and no rockets of any kind.
  • No smoking or lighting any fire in rural areas, or on the roads through them.
  • No brush cutters with metal heads, scrub cutters, chainsaws, angle grinders, or other spark-making machines, with some exceptions for essential farm work.

If the government declares a state of alert, its restrictions apply over and above the danger level.

Burning garden waste on other days. From 1 June to 31 October you need the council's authorisation to burn a pile. The rest of the year, you tell the council first. Never leave a burning pile until it is fully out. See Burning Garden and Farm Waste in Portugal.

Civil protection alerts

The civil protection authority (ANEPC) sends text messages to every phone in an area at risk. The sender is always AvisoPROCIV.

  • You do not need to sign up, and the messages are free.
  • Phones on foreign networks that are roaming in Portugal also receive them, in Portuguese and English.
  • Warnings also go out on ANEPC's website and social media, on radio and TV, and through the MAI Mobile app.
  • Locally, councils may also use sirens, loudspeakers, and door-to-door visits.

If you get an AvisoPROCIV message, read it and follow it.

If a fire comes near

If you see a fire, call 112 straight away. The call is free. Say "incêndio" (fire), where it is, and what you can see. See Getting Help in a Medical Emergency in Portugal for how 112 works.

If a fire is approaching your house, the official advice is:

  1. Warn your neighbours.
  2. Wet the walls, the roof, and 10 metres around the house.
  3. Close doors, windows, and other openings. Close the shutters.
  4. Move furniture, tarpaulins, and firewood away from the house.
  5. If it is safe, turn off gas bottles and move them somewhere safe.
  6. Move anything that can burn away from the windows. Put wet towels in the gaps.
  7. Follow the instructions of the authorities and the local safety officer.

If you must stay inside:

  • Keep calm. Move curtains and sofas away from the windows.
  • Close everything that could let sparks in, and put wet towels in the gaps.
  • Stay away from outside walls, in a room on the far side from the fire.
  • Wait for the fire to pass. Then check around the house and on the roof for small fires.
  • Call 112 to tell the authorities where you are.

If you are told to leave:

  • Keep calm and follow the authorities' instructions.
  • Help children, older people, and anyone with limited mobility.
  • Take your evacuation kit and ID documents. Do not go back for belongings.
  • Close doors and windows as you leave.
  • Take your pets.
  • Go quickly to the nearest shelter or collective refuge.

If you are caught by a fire: head for a shelter or refuge. If none is close, find flat ground with water or little vegetation. Breathe close to the ground, through a wet cloth if possible. Cover your head and body. Call 112.

Before the season: a checklist

  1. Find out whether your house or land is in a strip, and how wide it is. Your council's forestry office can tell you.
  2. Clear the strip before the year's deadline, and keep it clear through the summer.
  3. Make the 2-metre non-flammable band around the walls. Clean the roof often, and fit a spark guard on the chimney.
  4. Keep firewood and garden waste away from the house.
  5. Save 112 in every phone.
  6. Pack an evacuation kit: first aid kit, your usual medicines, water and food that keeps, toiletries, a change of clothes, a radio, a torch, a whistle, cash, and a list of contacts.
  7. Learn where your village's shelter or refuge is.
  8. If you live in a building with a condominium, the law requires fire insurance on the building. For your own cover, read your policy's fire terms.

For more information, the national fire prevention line is 808 200 520 or 211 389 320, every day from 08:00 to 21:00.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. In an emergency, call 112. Rules and deadlines change each year; check the official source before you act.

Sources

This guide is written from official sources and, where relevant, organisations' own websites.

Last verified October 2026. Rules and fees change; check the official source before acting.

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