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'Unprecedented' disaster in Sardinia due to forest fires

2021-07-28T10:08:12.259Z


A 40-kilometer swath of vegetation, farms, and towns hit by one of the biggest wildfires in decades. Gaia pianigiani 07/27/2021 12:40 Clarín.com The New York Times International Weekly Updated 07/27/2021 12:40 PM Around 1,000 residents and tourists have been evacuated from areas of western Sardinia that were ravaged by forest fires over the weekend, with the Italian island's forests, pastures and villages engulfed in flames. "It is an unprecedented catastrophe," said the region's governor, Ch


Gaia pianigiani

07/27/2021 12:40

  • Clarín.com

  • The New York Times International Weekly

Updated 07/27/2021 12:40 PM

Around 1,000 residents and tourists have been

evacuated

from areas of western Sardinia that were ravaged by forest fires over the weekend, with the Italian island's forests, pastures and villages engulfed in flames.

"It is an unprecedented catastrophe," said the region's governor, Christian Solinas, invoking the state of emergency on Sunday.

At least 20,000 hectares of land have been burned.

Photo Alessandro Tocco / LaPresse, via Associated Press.

According to the Italian authorities, there have been no deaths or injuries.

However, the fires were still raging on Monday, when four firefighting planes from

France and Greece

joined the air fleet of

Italian

firefighters

to help control the flames.

Since the early hours of Saturday, when the fire started near a forest in the town of Bonacardo, at least 20,000 hectares of land have burned.

Hundreds of sheep, goats, cows and pigs died when they were

trapped

in farm stables that were in the path of the fire, despite the efforts of emergency workers to save them.

On Sunday evening, Italian Prime Minister

Mario Draghi

expressed "full solidarity" with those affected by the fires and offered his support to the firefighters who work tirelessly.

Footage recorded by Italian firefighters showed a thick layer of smoke engulfing residential buildings, warehouses and barns, and flames burning high just behind

beachside villas

in the city of Porto Alabe, a popular tourist spot. more than 40 kilometers north of where the fires started.

The llamas crossed hectares of cork and holm oak forests native to the region.

An

ancient olive tree

that was the symbol of the town of Cuglieri, located on top of the hill, was

destroyed

by fire.

"This morning, the trunk was still burning," Maria Giovanna Campus, a retired local archaeologist, wrote on Facebook last Sunday, posting images of the dead tree, with the trunk charred by fire and the branches hanging from the ground.

"We had proudly signaled its presence to tourists, but we ended up neglecting it and leaving it at the mercy of the flames," he said, adding that "

cleaning the area

around it would have been enough to protect and preserve it."

The cause of the fires was not yet clear.

But experts said that preventing forest fires requires keeping forests and pastures clean and creating buffer zones.

In affected areas of Sardinia and elsewhere in Italy, abandoned land is often not well maintained, which can help spread the fire, they said.

Forest fires are common in the dry Mediterranean environment of Sardinia in summer, especially when warm winds blow from the southwest on days when temperatures reach 40 degrees, as has happened in recent days.

"These are extraordinary fires because of their magnitude, but also ordinary because of the time of year and the speed, unfortunately," said Gianfilippo Micillo, head of the Italian firefighters' forest fire coordination department.

"Summer fires in Sardinia, with so much dry vegetation, strong winds and high temperatures, occur every year. These fires create their own microclimate and spread very quickly."

Micillo said Italy was experiencing an

increase

in wildfires this year, as they do every four to five years, when low shrubbery and bushes grow large enough in desert areas to become fuel for an accidentally, or intentionally, ignited spark. , by human activity.

Italy has recorded nearly

13,000

more

forest fires

than last year, mostly in the southern regions of

Apulia, Calabria and Sicily

, according to firefighters.

Micillo also said that, until 10 years ago, fires used to break out in the Alpine regions in winter and in central and southern Italy during the summer.

Now, the forest fires have spread in time and in the area, as temperatures continue to be higher until October and the vegetation dries up.

"And these new phenomena are related to climate change," said Micillo, "since Italy is undoubtedly getting

hotter

."

Climate change-related fires have devastated parts of the western

United States

and

Canada

this summer as extreme heat and drought have dried up vegetation.

c.2021 The New York Times Company

Look also

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Source: clarin

All news articles on 2021-07-28

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