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A firefighter fighting the flames of a forest fire in Sardinia
Photo:
Italian Firefighters / dpa
The Italian fire brigade continues to fight numerous forest fires in Sicily.
On Friday, the emergency services moved up to the late afternoon 140 times because of the flames, as the fire brigade announced on Twitter.
Nationwide, the fire brigade spoke of a total of around 370 forest fire operations.
The situation is also critical in Lazio, where the capital Rome is located, as well as in the regions of Apulia and Campania.
A photo from a helicopter showed fires that had penetrated as far as the large city of Catania in eastern Sicily.
Thick billows of smoke drifted over the houses of the city at the foot of the Etna volcano.
Catania Airport announced on Friday evening that flight operations would be temporarily suspended.
According to the Ansa news agency, houses have been evacuated in the city.
The civil protection authority in Sicily predicted the highest fire risk level for eastern and northern Sicily on Saturday.
The temperatures should therefore be slightly below 40 degrees Celsius again.
Fires have been blazing for days, especially in southern Italy and on the large islands.
In addition to Sicily, western Sardinia is also particularly affected.
Forests and houses burned down there.
Rescue workers had to bring people to safety.
Drought, heat and strong winds keep causing the fires to spread
mjm / dpa