Eucalyptus is frequently presented as the principal explanation for catastrophic wildfire in Portugal. The reality is more complex. Fire behaviour emerges from interactions between weather, topography, fuel type, fuel moisture, fuel continuity and management [REF].
Eucalyptus has characteristics relevant to fire behaviour and should not be treated casually. But focusing upon one species can obscure wider landscape problems such as abandonment, unmanaged shrubland, continuous fuels and increasingly severe fire weather.
The lesson we take is not that eucalyptus is harmless. It is that management matters.