FIRES: FOREST SERVICE, 58 FIRES TODAY IN ALL OF ITALY

Fires: Forest Service, 58 Fires today in all of Italy

29 August 2008

published by www.agi.it

Italy — There were 58 forest fires that broke out in Italy today � locally autonomous regions excluded � that occupied the means and personnel of the State Forest Service.

Again, it was the south that registered the highest number of fires. The region that was struck the worst was Calabria with 30 fires, followed by Campania with 10, and Lazio with 5, then Liguria and Tuscany with 3, Molise and Piedmont with 2. Only one fire in Abruzzo, Puglia, and Umbria. The province that was struck the worst by the flames was Cosenza with 19 fires, Catanzaro with 11, Salerno with 6, and Caserta with 3. There were various missions undertaken by Forest Service aircraft. An AB 412 helicopter departing from Roma Urbe intervened to put out a fire that broke out in Pontecorvo in the province of Frosinone. The fire, with a front of 500 meters, burned 15 hectares of Mediterranean scrub, and put another 200 at risk.

Two Forest Service helicopters, an Erickson S64F and an AB 412, departing from Pescara, intervened both in the town of Rocca San Giovanni, in the province of Chieti. The flames with a front of 200 meters, burned 10 hectares of scrub. Another helicopter, an AB 412, departing from Rome is presently occupied in putting out a fire in the province of Terni which is putting several hectares of scrub at risk.