First day of violent heat and first fire, malicious, which destroys another green corner of the city. Yesterday Naples experienced the onset of the period of “weather alerts” for heat waves, a day made even more unliveable by the blanket of thin clouds which increased the humidity and made even the simplest daily activities difficult.
In the middle of the morning, a first cloud of fire, black and dangerous, loomed menacingly towards the city; it arrived in Naples from Aversa where a building material warehouse in Viale Europa caught fire. Six fire crews on site, asked to keep windows closed as the smelly black cloud arrived. But in the end the red helmets managed to prevail and the light breeze blowing over Campania helped disperse the fumes.
That same breeze, however, was decisive in fueling another fire, which started shortly after 2pm on the slope of Soccavo of the Camaldoli hill. Flames that continued throughout the night, dangerously touching the homes. Panic, fear and terror among residents. The prefect rushed to the scene Michele Di Bari – who convened a table in the Prefecture and activated the rescue coordination center to follow the evolution of the situation, discussing with the managers of the teams that arrived to put out the flames – the commander of the traffic police Ciro Esposito and that of the firefighters. Who carried out a long inspection to see if there was a need to clear out any buildings.
The prefect at the scene of the fire
An operation that continued throughout the night. The mayor Manfredi he is “in constant contact with the prefect and the VdF regarding the fire that hit the Camaldoli hill”. Furthermore, as darkness fell, the operations to put out the fire stopped with the planes which will resume this morning. For this reason, teams of firefighters remained on site to guard the area engulfed in flames. It was certainly arson, no one has any doubts on this point, even if there has not yet been an accurate investigation. At the sight of the smoke, people immediately alerted the firefighters who tried to reach the place. However, the flames developed among the vegetation, in a point difficult to reach with tankers, so there was first an attempt to get the better of the fire by creating a water barrier around the area; then, however, it was necessary to request the intervention of the extinguishing devices from above.
It was all the fault of the wind which made managing the fire difficult. Initially the flames had started to devour the greenery upwards, in the direction of the monastery of the Camaldolithen a sudden change in the direction of the blows shifted the path of the flames which headed dangerously towards the homes on the I was shocked which begins to climb the hill. Long moments of worry and waiting, also because, before being able to proceed with the shutdown from above, it was necessary to ask for disconnection of suspended cables of the electric current that pass right on the hill.
The heat wave
In terms of the heat perceived by the population, there is bad news on the horizon. According to the daily bulletin released by Ministry of Healthtoday and tomorrow for the city of Naples the alert level for heat waves goes from yellow (as it was yesterday) to orange, that is, just one step away from the red alert which imposes drastic measures to protect the population.
According to the ministerial bulletin, tomorrow will also be at the orange level which, according to the official rules, indicates «weather conditions which may represent a health risk, in particular in the most susceptible population subgroups”, i.e. the elderly, children and sick people. The main advice given to the population, in this case, is not to leave these people alone, to make sure they have the right hydration and to prevent them from leaving the house, especially during the hottest hours of the day.
Yesterday in the streets of Old Town the tourists continued to swarm without taking into account the suffocating heat. According to a spannometric survey of the businesses in the area, the consumption of soft drinks has grown by more than 50% while the sale of street food would have decreased slightly: these are, we reiterate, subjective findings from shopkeepers in the area, which do not claim to have scientific value.
The homeless
During the first heat waves, the Municipality of Naples immediately put in place a plan to meet the needs of those who do not have a home and could encounter serious difficulties living on the streets. The councilor for social policies, Luca Trapanese, has prepared a series of extraordinary interventions to help those who live on the streets: the opening hours of the CPA public dormitory have been brought forward to the afternoon; reactivate the showersTanucci institute and the “Sai” in Vico Volpicelli where there is also a refreshment corner.
“We try to be close to our weakest brothers who live on the streets – said councilor Trapanese – We are working on the creation of new, increasingly concrete services to adequately address the phenomenon of the many homeless people”.
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