24-year-old volunteer firefighter dies fighting Resende wildfire
Maria João Carneiro, a volunteer with the Resende fire brigade, was struck by a falling tree while fighting a blaze in Barrô and died hours later at Lamego Hospital. She is the second firefighter to die on duty in Portugal this year.
Maria João Carneiro, a 24-year-old volunteer firefighter, died in the early hours of Friday after being struck by a falling tree while fighting a fire in Barrô, in the municipality of Resende, in Portugal’s Viseu district. She was pulled out alive and taken to Lamego Hospital, where she died hours later.
She served with the Resende volunteer fire brigade. The fire, in scrubland, broke out at 8:36pm on Thursday and has its own entry on Portugal’s fogos.pt wildfire tracker, which moved it to “in resolution” shortly after 7am on Friday and marked it as over by late afternoon.
President António José Seguro paid tribute to her in a statement, calling her death “an example of selflessness, professionalism and courage” and “an irreparable loss for the institution and for the whole community.” Prime Minister Luís Montenegro said he felt “profound pain and dismay” and sent condolences to her family, colleagues and the municipality. Resende council declared three days of municipal mourning, through Sunday.
The Liga dos Bombeiros Portugueses, the firefighters’ federation, said she was the second firefighter to die on active duty this year, adding to 257 recorded by the organisation over the past 46 years.
It has not been the only serious episode of the season. By August, Portugal’s burnt area for 2026 had already passed 30,000 hectares, the third-worst tally since 2016.
Image: LilianaMarques / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
