Portugal's private firefighters watch over volatile forests In most countries protecting forests from fires is exclusively carried out by the state but in Portugal the country's two biggest pulp and paper firms, Navigator and Altri, set up their own firefighting force in 2002, which sometimes help civil protection units to fight wildfires outside their own private forests. The pulp and paper sector is largest forest owner in Portugal. It controls 150,000 hectares of eucalyptus trees such as those which surround the central town of Constancia and its pulp factory, locoated on the banks of the river Tagus around 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Lisbon.