France and Greece sent a total of four Canadair on Monday to help Italy fight the fire ravaging western Sardinia where the state of calamity has been declared.
Read also: Fires in Sardinia: Italy asks for help from neighboring countries
Mobilized within the framework of the Civil Protection Mechanism of the European Union, the two Greek planes are already operational and the two French planes were to arrive on the island in the morning.
Their mission is to support the 7,500 men, seven Canadair and 13 Italian helicopters engaged in the field.
More than 20,000 hectares affected, state of emergency declared
The Sardinian authorities have declared a state of emergency after the violent fires caused by drought, heat and sirocco which destroyed more than 20,000 hectares of forest, olive groves and crops in the Oristano region.
The breeders, for their part, have lost many sheep and goats and homes as well as agricultural and industrial premises have burned down.
The fire is still raging locally and the emergency services fear the arrival of the mistral, a northerly wind that could change the trajectory of the fires and thus pose threats to new areas.
In her village of Cuglieri, Paola Messana, a retiree who owns 200 olive trees, had to flee at the last moment.
“
I took the communal road to go down.
I did the last 300 meters in the flames,
”she said Monday, contacted by phone by AFP.
“
When I saw the flames on the mountain, I knew it was going to go down quickly because there was a mind-blowing sirocco, a howling sirocco.
I had never seen such a strong sirocco
”.
Two donkeys loaned by a breeder to clear his land perished in the fire.
The damage to his olive grove was still impossible to assess but there will be no harvest this year.
“
This region is the region of Sardinia that produces the best olive oil, it's a total disaster
,” she adds.
"
An unprecedented disaster
"
The Sardinian governor, Christian Solinas, has declared a state of calamity.
“
It is not yet possible to carry out an assessment of the damage caused by the fires still ongoing in the Oristano region, but it is an unprecedented disaster.
Tens of thousands of hectares of vegetation destroyed, businesses and houses burned, livestock killed,
”he lamented in a statement.
He said he wrote to Prime Minister Mario Draghi to request that part of the funds earmarked for the post-Covid recovery plan be allocated to the reforestation of areas devastated by the fire.
