Fire emergency: in Sicily and Sardinia, the damage assessment is underway, but vigilance remains high

As well as the high temperatures, there have been fires. Over the last two days, Sardinia and Sicily, along with a few other regions, have had to contend with wildfires. The latest incident occurred in Sardinia, where flames broke out in San Teodoro, near La Cinta beach. As a precaution, representatives of the Forestry Corps, together with the fire brigade and volunteers, were deployed to the scene. As a precaution, a farm and one family were evacuated. The flames – with Carabinieri, Forestas teams and Barracelli on the scene – also came close to several cars parked near the beach.

We will have to wait a little longer for an initial assessment, whilst the results of the fire that struck Ogliastra in recent days are already known: in this case, the flames that broke out in the wooded area between Arzana and Elini destroyed around 300 hectares of vegetation, equivalent to almost 420 football pitches. The Lanusei Public Prosecutor’s Office has also opened an investigation into the case, suspecting that the fire may have been started deliberately. Rosanna Laconi, the Councillor for Environmental Protection, was also in the area to provide an update on the fires that have broken out in Sardinia.

Since the start of the summer, more than 1,550 fires have been recorded on the island, reducing a total of 10,000 hectares to ashes.

Numerous towns across Sicily have also been dealing with the fires and their effects, from the province of Catania to that of Trapani, and on to Palermo. “Due to the high temperatures and strong winds of recent days, the entire region has been affected by numerous fires involving vegetation, scrubland and wooded areas,” the Fire Service stated in a press release. “From Friday afternoon until today, Fire Service personnel have carried out just over 800 operations to extinguish vegetation fires. To deal with this situation, the number of units deployed across the region has been immediately increased.”

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