In 2023, Sicily and Calabria accounted for over 83% of the Italian forest area affected by large forest fires. In particular, the Sicily region contributed 64% of the national total with 101 square kilometers of burned green areas.
A sad record, that of the Sicilian islandwhich emerged from the monitoring activities conducted by the Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (Istra), which processes the data relating to fires provided by the European Forest Fires Information System of the Copernicus Emergency programme.
In the year in question, only 15 out of 20 regions were affected by large forest fires. Those that do not have surfaces affected by fire are Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Marche and Umbria. Comparing the data with the previous year, the surface affected by fire decreases in 2023 in the Northern, Central-North and Central regions, while it increases in the Southern regions and in Sicily and Sardinia.
The most affected province was Palermo, with 43.5 square kilometers of forest burned, corresponding to 43% of the regional area and 28% of the national total burned in 2023. Messina and Syracuse also recorded 23 square kilometers and 10 square kilometers of forested area burned respectively. Remaining in Sicily, the province of Trapani is no exception and reports the loss of 461 hectares of forest surface in the period between 15 June and 15 September 2023, period of time examined by Istra.
Serena Giacalone
