Fires and fires in the South: two deaths in Calabria, Sicily declares a state of crisis

They wanted to save their olive grove from the flames: so a woman and her nephew, aged 53 and 34, died in a fire in San Lorenzo, a small town in the province of Reggio Calabria.

The victims were engulfed in flames. The corpses, completely charred, were inside the olive grove, near an agricultural vehicle. The agents of the State Police and the Carabinieri intervened on the spot.

The fire occurred in the “Gutta” locality, in the area of ​​the Aspromonte National Park, a fascinating green lung seriously outraged in recent days by an impressive number of fires. The Public Prosecutor’s Office of Reggio Calabria has launched an investigation to ascertain any responsibility for the death of the two. Investigation that can not fail to also concern the causes of the fire, certainly of malicious origin.

Although the hopes of identifying who started the flames, which have spread rapidly, are slim. And the situation of fires throughout Calabria is becoming increasingly critical. The mayor of Reggio Calabria, Giuseppe Falcomatà, is “in contact with all the mayors who are facing this serious emergency on the front line”.

Falcomatà asked the Region to declare a state of emergency for all the municipalities of the Reggio province affected by the fires: «In these hours, with the coordination of the Prefecture, we are continuing to monitor the situation, which remains very serious. Several areas have been evacuated to avoid the worst ».

The President of the Region, Nino Spirlì, also intervened on the emergency. “In Calabria – he said – there are currently 57 fires active, against which 73 teams of specialists and various aircraft are deployed. It is a dramatic moment for many territories of Calabria and for many families. Unfortunately, the flames today also claimed two victims. The in-house company of the Calabria Verde Region, the Civil Protection, the Prefectures, the firefighters and the volunteers, to whom all my gratitude goes for the effort they are making, work tirelessly to limit the fires and secure the inhabited centers, crops and the Mediterranean scrub. It is not easy and, of course, the new wave of scorching heat coming will not facilitate their already arduous task ».

But Calabria is not the only region to deal with this scourge. Sicily has “declared a state of crisis and emergency for six months due to the serious fires that have already occurred since the end of July and the permanent risk for the next few weeks, due to the exceptional climatic weather situation”, announced, at the end of an extraordinary meeting, the president of the Sicilian Region Nello Musumeci.

In Emilia Romagna, on the other hand, there was a new extension of the state of serious danger due to the risk of forest fires: the measure was approved following the medium-term climatic situation and the number of fires – 77 in seven days – registered by the forest police and firefighters. The picture outlined by Legambiente is dramatic: the fires that “are devouring large portions” of the country reach in some cases – in Sicily, Sardinia, Calabria, Abruzzo – “extensions rarely observed before. In recent days – writes the association – we are faced with the multiplication of events defined as ‘extreme’ that “exceed the control capacity, with an intensity of over 10,000 kW per meter and a propagation speed of over 3 km per hour. “.

Faced with this situation, the Minister of Agriculture, Stefano Patuanelli, assured that «the Government will not remain helpless in the face of so much devastation. Thousands of farms are paying a very high price. The Government is present, it will do everything to help them get up, with interventions also in derogation of the current constraints, including the activation of the National Solidarity Fund ».