The wildfires that are raging in
many parts of Italy burned the same area of the country in one
week as the total for the whole of 2016, according to data from
the European Commission's European Forest Fire Information
System (EFFIS).
It said that blazes affected 27,167 hectares of land between
July 8 and 16.
Italian Environmental association Legambiente's 'Ecomafia'
report, by contrast, said 27,000 hectares went up in smoke in
all of 2016.
According to EFFIS, flames enveloped 52,374 hectares between
the start of the year and July 15, including 34,956 in the first
half of this month.
President Sergio Mattarella on Tuesday called for a hard line
to be taken against arsonists.
He said that blazes "are often the result of criminal
actions, which should be punished with strong determination and
great severity".
Rome prosecutors have opened a criminal probe into the
massive blaze that hit the Castel Fusano pine wood in the south
of Rome on Monday, sources said.
The fire appears to have broken out in three different spots
in the forest, police said.
The arson investigation includes the case of the 22-year-old
from the northern city of Busto Arsizio arrested on Monday. The
man was allegedly caught red-handed trying to light a fire.
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