Wildfire death toll rises to 4 as Italy battles over 500 infernos across the cou

[Mark]

Italy, August 12, 2021
Italy's emergency services fought more than 500 fires across the country throughout the night, officials said on Thursday, as the death toll from the blazes rose to four amid intense heat waves across Europe.

With Italy recording a record high temperature of 48.8 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, the nation's firefighters have spent days battling hundreds of raging wildfires throughout the south of the country, including in Calabria and Sicily.

Emergency services were deployed overnight to try and control more than 500 blazes, as Italy and its European neighbours contend with extreme dry summer weather,

https://www.sott.net/topic/18-Wildfires which experts warn will get worse due to the effects of climate change.Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Thursday described the devastating wildfires that burned across the country for more than a week as the greatest ecological catastrophe Greece had seen in decades.

The fires broke out as the country roasted during the most intense and protracted heat wave experienced since 1987. Hundreds of wildfires erupted across the country, stretching Greece's firefighting capabilities to the limit and leading the government to appeal for help from abroad. Hundreds of firefighters, along with planes, helicopters and vehicles, arrived from 24 European and Middle Eastern countries to assist.

"We managed to save lives, but we lost forests and property," Mitsotakis said, describing the wildfires as "the greatest ecological catastrophe of the last few decades."
https://www.sott.net/topic/18-Wildfires

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[Mark]

Last week, Roberto Cingolani, minister for ecological transition, told parliament that 57.4% of Italy’s recent wildfires were caused by arson, and 13.7% the result of unintentional human action.

“More than 70% of the fires in Italy are our responsibility,” he said. “Less than 2% are caused naturally, for example, by a lightning strike. For 4.4%, the cause is undetermined, and 22% are unclassifiable situations in which it is difficult to know what triggered the fire,” he added.

https://www.sott.net/topic/18-Wildfires