WildFires leave trail of devastation on Italy's Adriatic coast
Pastor Dale Morgan
WildFires leave trail of devastation on Italy's Adriatic coast*
PESCHICI, Italy, July 26 (AFP) Jul 26, 2007
Raging wildfires kindled by an intense heatwave in southern Italy have
left a trail of devastation along the Adriatic coastline.
Near one of the golden beaches that draw holidaymakers to the southern
Apulia region, the director of a campground that burned to the ground on
Tuesday shook his head in despair.
"I'm ruined. I invested all my money here and now I have nothing. My
only hope is that the state will declare a natural disaster so that I
can get compensation," he told AFP.
In the seaside resort of Peschici, a town of 4,000 whose population
triples in the summer, the mayor declared a day of mourning for two
residents, a brother and sister aged 81 and 71, who were burned alive in
their car when they tried to escape a fire.
"I thought I was watching war scenes," said Ambrosio, a tourist from the
Naples area, recalling another of Tuesday's blazes. "I was swimming when
I saw the flames behind the trees. Then I heard explosions, one after
the other."
Nearby, an area where many tourists decided to park their cars thinking
they would be safe from the flames was testament to their misjudgement:
all that was left of about 100 cars and caravans were burnt-out carcasses.
Like many witnesses who spoke to AFP, Ambrosio lamented the slow arrival
of rescue workers.
"We saw the first fires around nine in the morning," said Ambrosio, 55.
"But apart from a police car, we didn't see anyone. The first
firefighter helicopter didn't arrive until 2:00 pm."
Public safety chief Guido Bertolaso however told a news conference on
Wednesday that the first helicopter arrived within 40 minutes of the
first distress call.
Witnesses said several hundred people found themselves surrounded by
flames fanned by strong winds before being evacuated by sea.
But some panicked beachgoers fended for themselves, swimming to a
neighbouring beach.
Among them was Mayer, a 35-year-old tourist from northern Bolzano. "The
help was too late in coming, and I was afraid, so I jumped into the
water," he said.
Nearly 4,000 tourists who were staying in Peschici were evacuated to
hotels, schools and daycare centres in other towns in the area.
Pointing to a large number of fires that were raging simultaneously,
public safety officials said they suspected arson in some of them.
"Those who did this are criminals. They have ruined our region," said
Maria, an elderly resident of Peschici. "The (adjacent) Gargano forests
are what made our beaches so beautiful."
On Wednesday there was no official estimate of the amount of forest that
has burnt, but local environmentalists and bird-lovers said several
hundred hectares have gone up in smoke.