Wildfires scorch Spain and cause ‘disaster without precedence’ in Sardinia
27 July 2021
Published by https://edition.cnn.com/
SPAIN/ITALY – (CNN) Devastating wildfires have spread across parts of southern Europe, tearing through the Spanish and Greek countryside and forcing around 1,000 people from their homes on the Italian island of Sardinia.
Sardinia’s local government declared a state of emergency on Sunday, due to what it described as a “disaster without precedence.”
“It is still not possible to estimate the damages caused by the fires that are still ongoing in the Oristano area,” the president of the Sardinia region, Christian Solinas, said in a statement Monday. “Vegetation destroyed, businesses and homes burnt and animals killed,” he added.
In an update on Tuesday, regional spokesman Ignazio Artissu told CNN the current estimate of burned area is around 20,000 hectares, but officials are still assessing the damage. Artissu said most of the fires have been put out and they are now focusing on taking the necessary steps so they don’t start again.
Over recent days, the region deployed 7,500 people and over 20 aircraft to fight the fires. Italy has also received support from neighboring countries, with France and Greece deploying four planes to provide assistance in putting out the flames.
Solinas urged Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi to send economic help to the affected areas. Draghi said that his government was monitoring the situation closely and expressed “full solidarity with the population that is working non-stop in the rescue interventions.”
Greece and Spain are also struggling with wildfires due to a continuous heatwave.
In Greece, scores of forest fires burned between Sunday and Monday with more than 700 firefighters being deployed to take control of the situation.
