At the end of July, the province of Oristano, in Sardinia, was devastated by multiple fires. The fire front, fifty kilometers long, burned for several days, fueled by sirocco and libeccio: twenty thousand hectares were destroyed in the historic areas of Montiferru, Marghine and Planargia. From space, the NASA satellite captured images of the fire. On land – in the center of the island – the sun was obscured by smoke.
The flames have destroyed forests of holm oaks and oaks, centuries-old olive groves, flocks, milking machines, roads, industrial sheds, hay deposits, dry stone walls, telephone repeaters and cars. In the soot-black countryside, under the skeletons of the trees, the carcasses of wild animals remain: foxes, hares, wild boars. About 1,500 people had to leave their homes lapped or devastated by fire in villages such as Cuglieri and Scano di Montiferro, Macomer and Tresnuraghes.
Despite the flights of seven Canadair and eleven helicopters, and the work of the firefighters, forestry corps, civil protection and volunteers, containing the flames was impossible. So the national government asked for help from Europe, and four more Canadians arrived from France and Greece. The regional council immediately promised refreshments, asked for a state of emergency to be followed by a state of calamity. The president of the republic, Sergio Mattarella, also expressed solidarity and support for the island, while some municipalities opened fundraisers and farmers from all over the island sent trucks of fodder and feed for surviving sheep, goats and cattle.
A few days after the disaster, the prosecutor of Oristano opened an investigation – against unknown persons – for aggravated negligent fire. Forestry investigations are still ongoing. The only certainty is that the first trigger came from the burning of a car between Santu Lussurgiu and Bonarcardo. Tamed and then broken down, the prosecutor Ezio Domenico Basso defined it: “Original sin”. From there in twelve hours the outbreaks have multiplied, uncontrolled.
Short and long term
For Sardinia, fires are nothing new: prevention campaigns are launched every year in late spring – the one in 2020 cost thirty million euros – but at the end of the summer, the damage is invariably counted. It is true that in the last two years there have been fewer (1,047 in 2020, 1,265 in 2019), but it is equally true that their extension has increased (8,143 hectares affected by fires in 2020, 6,805 in 2019, according to the reconstruction of the region).
Thirty years ago the fire also brought death: at the end of July 1983 in Gallura, on the hill of Curraggia, there were nine victims, in 1989 in Portisco – near Olbia – thirteen. This time no one was seriously injured, but the environmental, economic and social consequences are incalculable.
“It is one of the most important fires among those recorded since the nineties”, explains Gianluigi Bacchetta, professor of environmental botany at the University of Cagliari and director of the biodiversity conservation center. “The damage is not only landscape but economic. In the areas of the fires there are companies of excellence, farms of special breeds such as the red ox and centuries-old olive groves whose oil wins international awards “. In the locality of “Sa tanca manna” (the large farm) also the millennial olive tree burned: “In collaboration with the forestry corps and the administration we are trying to save its roots”, says Bacchetta.
According to the botanist, there are already visible short-term consequences: “The damaged farms are many and it will be difficult to make up for the losses with the money that will come”. And then there are the medium and long-term effects: “Herds and flocks could be reconstituted in five to ten years, but the olive groves are lost. Because, despite planting in October, production will take place in at least twenty years. A fifty-year-old owner, in his life, will no longer see the oil from the trees inherited from his fathers and grandfathers ”. What about life in the woods? “There, wild biodiversity has been totally decimated in a few hours, affecting an entire heritage of endemic plant and animal species”.
Prevention
The Montiferru had already been crossed by a fire in 1994. At that time 7,500 hectares were destroyed: the forestry officer Giuseppe Mariano Delogu (now professor of civil protection techniques at the University of Sassari) was in charge of the extinguishing operations. . “The fire once again followed the same path. No cuts are needed but the plants must be thinned out (i.e. uproot the diseased ones and some of the younger ones to allow a more harmonious development ed) and devote himself to constant care of the territory. The trees must only be cut at the end of their life cycle, but the woods should not be abandoned to themselves, for example the presence of pastures is important to achieve a good balance ”, he explains. A spontaneous committee of Montiferru had also thought of denouncing the state of neglect with an open letter published online on 7 June, in which it defined that forest “a dangerous fuel deposit”.
When there is no planning and care, the result is that in fires such as those of these days the flames reach heights of up to twelve meters and a propagation speed of one hundred meters per minute: “They are the so-called large forest fires, in some climatic conditions there are leaps of fire of up to five hundred meters ”, explains Delogu. “The fire goes from hill to hill, is channeled and advances quickly. I saw the valley of Bau and mela burn in half an hour ”.
The risk exists and is everywhere: “Instead of working as if we were always in an emergency, we should plan and prevent”, adds Delogu. “When I see certain tourist resorts with tree branches almost entering the bedrooms, I shiver. It’s basically like sleeping next to a petrol can. There is a total lack of awareness that what is beautiful, natural, is not necessarily safe. We have become accustomed and convinced that large-scale fires such as those that occur in Australia and California cannot replicate in Italy, but this is not the case. And the facts are proving it to us ”.
Climate crisis
The bulletins of the regional civil protection for the weekend of 23-25 July sounded the alarm for an “Atlantic cavity, which, approaching the western Mediterranean, causes the rising of hot air masses from North Africa. The phenomenon will cause an increase in maximum temperatures locally over 40 degrees, especially on Campidano and Sulcis from Friday, in extension to the central part of the island and in particular in the Tirso and Coghinas valleys from Saturday, until arriving in Gallura on Sunday. 25 “.
The climate crisis played a role: “The heat of the past few weeks in southern Italy and Sardinia was not normal”, explains Matteo Tidili, meteorologist of Rai Meteo. “The temperatures were higher than average, especially on the weekend of the fires.” Not only that: “The sirocco was blowing and in the night before the disaster there were gusts of wind descended from cumulonimbus clouds (dense and large clouds, typical of thunderstorms, ed) which, when you reach the ground, have spread out like a fan. A favorable condition for the reactivation of extinct outbreaks “.
The floods in Como and the hailstorms in Milan are the downside of the same coin, says Tidili. A global issue: “The floods in Germany and China must also be placed in the context of the climate crisis. Never in China had 202 millimeters of water been recorded in an hour ”.
Depopulation
The fires in Sardinia must also be framed by looking at the constant abandonment of the territory. The depopulation of the central areas is such a serious problem that the regional ANCI has asked to tackle it using the European funds of the Next generation EU.
In eight years, Istat says, there are 27,000 fewer inhabitants on the island due to few births and emigration. Thirty-one small towns may no longer exist by 2031, says a study from the University of Cagliari. “We should make it profitable to work and live in these places, and above all to make the hinterland, the countryside, productive places”, says Mario Nonne, of the national council of geologists.
“It is a phenomenon that is observed everywhere, not only in Sardinia, but also in the inland and mountain areas of the entire country,” says Nonne. “In the Apennines the villages are depopulated, as well as the countryside, and woods and land that were once productive have long since been abandoned. There are no goats and sheep that graze, there is no longer the withdrawal of wood under the branches ”. All conditions that prevent the care of the territory which is fundamental, among other things, to prevent fires.
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