The fire situation in Sicily in the first half of 2024 is already more dramatic than in the first six months of 2023. The quantity of forests burned exceeds those that burned in the same period of the previous year twelve times.
The cry of alarm comes above all from the regions of southern Italy, and Sicily, unfortunately, holds the sad record. From January to June, 1288 fires occurred on the island while in the same period of 2023 there were 509. As regards the hectares burned, in 2024, from January to June there were 1388, last year, however, in the first six months went up in flames, “only” 119 hectares.
Among the provinces most affected by the fires, Catania is the first with 349 hectares, then Caltanissetta with 279 hectares, Trapani with 233, Agrigento with 200, Messina with 82, Palermo with 78, Ragusa with 64, Enna with 63 and Syracuse with 40. Overall , in the first six months of 2024, in Sicily, there are 2,797 hectares of woodland and not burned, while last year there were 1,015.
The situation is then made even more dramatic by the prolonged drought and lack of rainfall, conditions that have created fertile ground for the spread of the flames.
The Region responded by renewing the agreement with the fire brigade, increasing the available resources and improving coverage of the areas most at risk. The new agreement, recently signed, will guarantee a strengthened workforce with 116 operational units, located in new strategic locations such as Ragalmna (Catania), Piazza Armerina (Enna), Santo Stefano di Camastra (Messina), Custonaci (we talk about it here) and Pantelleria (we talk about it here). The new positions and strengthened firefighting teams are part of a project funded with 2.5 million euros, intended to increase the intervention capacity especially in the most isolated and difficult to reach areas.
The regional councilor for Territory and Environment, Elena Pagana, together with the head of Civil Protection, Salvo Cocina, and the commander of the Forestry Corps, Giuseppe Battaglia, expressed optimism regarding the region’s ability to deal with this emergency. However, it is clear that the fire problem will require continued and coordinated efforts to bring under control, as 2024 promises to be one of the most difficult in terms of fires, with an exponential increase in areas burned and resources needed to tackle the ’emergency.
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