Wildfires have claimed area equal to Rome, Naples, Milan

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 25 - Wildfires have claimed an area equal to Rome, Naples, and Milan put together since the start of this year, the Europa Verde party said in a new report Wednesday.
    Some 158,000 hectares of forest and woodland has been claimed by the mainly arson-caused fires in 2021, it said.
    The report was published by the European Commission's European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), which has been providing information on wildfires since 2008.
    2021 has so far been Italy's new 'annus horribilis' for forest fires, surpassing the previous record worst year of 2017, EFFIS said last week.
    In the whole of 2017 some 141,000 hectares burned down in mostly arson fires, it said, a mark that has been far surpassed already this year.
    In 2018 14,00 hectares were torched, 37,000 in 2019 and 53,000 in 2020. (ANSA).