(CNN) – Italy is facing three times the usual number of fires this summer, a group of farmers warned on Wednesday.
Coldiretti, the Italian farmers’ federation, said the country suffers millions of euros in losses in damage to the environment, the economy, jobs and tourism due to the fires.
Coldiretti’s analysis is based on the data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), which shows an average of 100 large fires a year between 2008 and 2020, and 303 so far this summer, the federation told CNN. They consider “large fires” those that affect more than 30 hectares.
Tens of thousands of hectares of Mediterranean forests and scrub have been incinerated by the flames, leaving dead animals, charred trees, olive groves and pastures destroyed, Coldiretti said.
Sheep killed in fires near the town of Cuglieri, Italy, on July 26, 2021. (Credit: VALENTINA SINIS / AFP via Getty Images)
It is a “national emergency”, according to the farmers’ federation
“It is a true national emergency for the safety of the population and for the economy at a time when, with the advance of the vaccination campaign, all efforts are focused on the fight against covid-19 and on the economic recovery with the tourist season in full swing, “Coldiretti said.
Firefighting operations continue in Sicily, where teams from other regions are deployed, according to tweeted on Wednesday the Italian civil protection department.
Copernicus, the European Union’s atmosphere monitoring service, said on Wednesday that the Mediterranean region was becoming a “focus of forest fires” and warned that already burning fires emit large amounts of polluting smoke into the atmosphere.
Southern Italy, some parts of Greece, Albania and North Macedonia They are the areas of Europe most affected by fires at the moment, according to Copernicus data.
European Union aid
The european commission has mobilized aid to assist the most affected regions of the Mediterranean and the Western Balkans, through the Civil Protection Mechanism of the European Union (EU).
“We are working tirelessly to send aid as fires ravage Europe. I thank Cyprus, the Czech Republic, France, Slovenia and the Netherlands for the rapid deployment of fire fighting planes, helicopters and a firefighting team to support countries heavily affected by the forest fires”, He said on Wednesday in a statement the Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted on Wednesday that “she is following the situation with great concern. European solidarity is on the march to fight these terrible fires. We are with you.”
According to the EU’s European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), fire risk will remain extreme to very extreme in most of northern Macedonia, central and southern Albania and in affected areas of Greece .
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