Sicily WildFires Kill at Least 2
Pastor Dale Morgan
Aug 22, 4:45 PM EDT
*Sicily WildFires Kill at Least 2*
ROME (AP) -- Wind-whipped wild fires that have been ravaging parts of
Sicily consumed a hotel near the port city of Messina on Wednesday,
killing at least two people, authorities said.
Fire crews had been battling the blaze in Patti and other locations
around Messina for hours when the fire reached the "Hawk's Refuge," a
hotel on a working farm, fire officials said.
Firefighters and an official at the prefect's office initially said
three people had been killed. The ANSA news agency, however, later
quoted the regional civil protection department as saying that only two
people were killed at the hotel.
It wasn't immediately possible to clear up the discrepancy. Calls to the
regional civil protection department in Palermo went unanswered late
Wednesday.
Elsewhere in Sicily, fire crews were battling another blaze in the hills
above the seaside resort town of Cefalu which prompted a hospital to
suspend surgeries as a precaution. ANSA reported that some villas on the
outskirts of the town were damaged.
No injuries were reported from that fire, said Andrea Garifo, a fire
official in the nearby town of Termini Imerese. About 20 to 30 people
were evacuated from their homes, she said.
Late Wednesday, Defense Minister Arturo Parisi ordered troops to help
battle the fires across southern Italy - in particular in Sicily,
Calabria and in the Cilento area south of Naples - and said he was also
sending army and navy helicopters to the regions.
Hot winds from northern Africa have been fanning the flames in Sicily
and blowing away much of the water that air tanker planes have dumped on
the fires.