2007 already a record year for forest fires in Europe
Pastor Dale Morgan
2007 already a record year for forest fires in Europe*
ROME, Aug 26 (AFP) Aug 26, 2007
More of Europe's forest land has already burned this year than in all of
last year, the Italian farmers association Coldiretti said Sunday.
As of the end of July, 337,600 hectares (834,200 acres) had gone up in
smoke, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS),
which recorded a loss of 358,500 hectares for all of 2006.
"If you consider that easily more than 20,000 hectares have burned so
far this month notably in Greece and Italy, this year is worse than
ever," spokesman Paolo Falcioni told AFP.
Greece has been battling multiple forest fires since June, fanned by
three heatwaves, the latest this week, and months of drought. Tens of
thousands of hectares have gone up in smoke, making this summer's fires
the worst in 10 years.
In Italy, more than 2,500 hectares of forest land was destroyed in the
northern Sicilian region of Cefalu this month.
Forest officials blame four years of drought in southern Italy and the
failure to impose laws that prohibit construction on burned out areas.
EFFIS began mapping burnt areas in Europe in 2003.