Italy: Fire fighting operations continue in Sardinia as wildfires ravage island

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Fire-fighting operations continued on Tuesday in the area ravaged by a huge blaze in western Sardinia, after a fire which started in the mountainous area of Montiferru.

Canadair amphibious firefighting aircraft and helicopters were seen hovering and dropping water over the woods, while fire brigades and police patrolled different points in the hilly area.

The blaze, which forced the evacuation of hundreds of residents between Friday and Saturday, wiped out thousands of hectares.

The mayor of one of the most severely hit towns, Cuglieri, spoke about the disaster and explained that the local economy has been brought to its knees.

SOT, Giovanni Panichi, Mayor of fire-hit town Cuglieri (Italian): “We are operating with Canadair, helicopters and forces on the ground for the clearance of small outbreaks reigniting on the territory. The area has been literally devastated by the blaze, the village was encircled by the flames and we’ve been thrown into this emergency situation unbelievable for those who haven’t experienced it, and it (the blaze) brought the economy of the town down to zero, we are on our knees.”

OT, Giovanni Panichi, Mayor of fire-hit town Cuglieri (Italian): “The rescue operations worked well for such an extraordinary event as this in Cuglieri. Because unfortunately, there are always emergency situations which are influenced by the current circumstances. Cuglieri had the bad luck to be hit by the most violent blaze at a time when Canadairs could not fly, because it was night. If what happened overnight on Saturday had happened on Saturday morning, for instance, maybe the damages would have been smaller. But if something so unbelievable happens with such a strong wind - it was even difficult to be standing unless you were shielded by something - overnight, when it’s not possible to use the appropriate tools to tackle this kind of disaster, you need to try and plug the holes.”

SOT, Giovanni Panichi, Mayor of fire-hit town of Cuglieri (Italian): “To assess the financial damage it’s basically impossible at the moment, because all forces on the ground are busy to put the outbreaks off of the blaze. That doesn’t end when the fire has been deviated or eliminated, that ends when there’s no more secondary outbreaks reigniting. This is an additional risk, because if a secondary outbreaks goes off, it wipes off all the few things left.”

#Sardinia #Wildfires #Italy #Montiferru

Video ID: 20210727-063

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