Italian firefighters conducted 32,921
operations to combat blazes involving forests and vegetation
between June 15 and July 21, 4,040 more than in the same period
last year, according to data released on Friday.
In this period 141,566 firefighters and 53,587 fire engines and
other vehicles were involved in these operations, which lasted a
total of 39,753 hours.
The fact that the situation is worst this year than in 2021 is
especially alarming as a report presented on Friday said that
Italy was the European country worst-hit by wildfires last year.
"Italy was top in Europe and second in the world in 2021 for the
number of fires registered, 1,422, for a total of 160.000
hectares of surface area burned," said Chiara Cadeddu, a
researcher at Rome's Università Cattolica, as she presented the
study.
"It was the highest number registered in the last decade. But we
expect worse data this year".
The report regarded the Italian situation in a document entitled
Climate Change Is A Health Crisis compiled with the Italian
Institute for Planetary Health (IIPH).
This week has been particularly bad for wildfires in Italy.
Over 1,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes because
of a massive wildfire that devastated the Versilia area of
Tuscany, burning over 868 hectares of land.
On Thursday a female civil protection volunteer was killed by a
falling tree while fire fighting in Friuli Venezia Giulia, where
there have been several wildfires.
A huge one in the Carso area halted road and rail traffic in the
area and on Wednesday it forced Italian ship-builder Fincantieri
to close its plant at Monfalcone after the northeastern city was
invaded by the smoke.
The severe drought Italy is enduring and a series of heat waves
have created conditions that make it easier for fires to spread
fast.
Drought and heat waves are among the extreme weather events that
scientists say are becoming more frequent and more intense due
to climate change caused by human activity.
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