Sixth death in Italy's summer fires
Pastor Dale Morgan
Sixth death in Italy's summer fires*
ROME, Aug 6 (AFP) Aug 07, 2007
The body of an 80-year-old man was found Tuesday in Italy's southeastern
Apulia region, bringing to six the death toll from wildfires since the
start of the summer, the national forestry service said.
The body was found near Foggia as a brush fire was approaching a forest,
a spokesman said.
On Monday, a young man was killed while trying to put out a blaze near
Lappano sulla Sila, a town in southern Calabria.
Three people died in the Apulian town of Peschici late last month when
fires ravaged the Gargano National Park near the Adriatic coast.
And the pilot of a Canadair died July 23 when his plane crashed in the
central Abruzzo region.
Meanwhile in the southern Campania region, a firefighting helicopter
came under fire while it was hovering over the Volturno River north of
Naples to fill its tank with water, a spokesman told AFP.
In the incident Monday, the pilot was unaware that the helicopter was
peppered with 18 rounds. His colleagues noticed the bullet holes when
the helicopter returned to the site of the blaze they were battling.
Campania authorities have opened an investigation into the incident.
In another incident on Monday, vandals cut cables linking the Campania
region's operational centre with the nearby town of Montevergine.
An agricultural official told the ANSA news agency that "criminal
intentions" were suspected, calling for police to take urgent action
against "pyromaniacs and criminal organisations prepared to do anything
to generate a profit."
The environmental group WWF late last month estimated that some 9,000
hectares (22,500 acres) of protected area had burned, blaming arsonists
for "most of the fires."
It said: "It is well known that fire almost always serves to get rid of
trees and other natural obstacles to make way for new hotels, villas or
pastures."
Public safety officials said Tuesday that new fires that flared this
weekend in the south were dying down, with "only eight requests for
intervention by air."
These were mainly in the area of Rome and the Calabria and Campania regions.
Public safety spokesman Luca Spoletini said the summer had been "very
difficult, with record days seeing up to 100 requests for intervention."