Forest fires are extremely important in the Portuguese forestry sector. Every year there are forest fires although the number of forest fires and the area burned can vary considerably from year to year. The issue of forest fires is complex and politicians tend to speak about it in the Summer for forgetting it almost straight afterwards. Certainly the problem of forest fires is not exclusive to Portugal, everyone can hear often about forest fires in California, or in Australia, or in Greece, or in many other countries that tend to have hot and dry summers. In Portugal forests occupy more than one third of the territory and therefore the big issues of forests are important to the whole country. However it was necessary the huge area burned by forest fires in 2003 to this problem take an national importance that should have been acknowledge before. Still there is certainly a lot needed to be done regarding several issues.