SYRACUSE – With the approach of the summer season, as is well known, it comes back promptly the problem of fires. There last summer the territory of Syracuse was heavily affected by the fires that affected it Epipoli, Tremmilia, the Targia area and the Miano Village. To avoid the recurrence of the problem, sometimes caused by natural phenomena but more frequently of a malicious nature, the mayor of Syracuse, Francesco Italia, has issued the order n. 6 of 24 April 2024, immediately enforceable, regarding fire prevention and for cleaning uncultivated land.
The fire prevention ordinance
The provision, proposed by the Civil Protection sector and further expanded compared to the previous ones in the forecasts and provisions “absolutely prohibits the lighting of fires of any kind and the on-site combustion of plant residues even if deriving from mowing or pruning, forestry material or agricultural even if produced by companies”. All the prevention measures contained in the ordinance they must be adopted by May 15th. The ordinance establishes that in the period between 15 May and 31 October, near woods and protected areas, agricultural land, along roads and motorway and railway locations, parks and urban pine forests within the municipal territory, it will be forbidden to turn on fires, use naked flame or electrical appliances that produce sparks. Furthermore, it is forbidden to smoke or throw cigarettes, carry out any action that could generate open flames and cause fires, carry out pyrotechnic activities, light fireworks, park in areas with grass and dry vegetation.
In the same period, the individual owners, the tenants and managers of rustic land and uncultivated agricultural areas, of uncultivated urban green areas, the owners of villas, the administrators of buildings with adjoining green areas, the managers of construction sites, tourist facilities, artisanal and commercial with attached green areas, will have to clean them up, ensuring the clearing brushwood and cutting hedges and branchesthe removal of waste and anything else that could be a vehicle for fire, keeping them in such conditions as not to increase the danger.
Keep the protection bands efficient
It is mandatory for holders, near public and private roads, along railways and motorways, as well as near buildings or plants and near closed lots and property boundaries, to keep the protection bands efficientthat is, to create a protective firebreak strip no less than ten meters wide, along the entire perimeter of the fund.
This protection band, for owners, managers or managers of campsites, tourist villages, farmhouses, hotels and accommodation facilities, residential centers extends to twenty metres. The distance must be reasonably increased in relation to individual and particular cases so as not to constitute an obvious danger for homes. The Civil Protection offices invite citizens to collaborate promptly reporting the start of fires to the competent authorities and providing the information necessary for its identification. Ivan Scimonelli, head of the “Together” civic list council group, in taking note of the union ordinance with which the mayor of Syracuse imposes obligations and prohibitions for the “Prevention and active fight against fires” states: “We ask ourselves in light of the disastrous experience lived Last year with our city burning from north to south, from east to west, what is the prevention plan that the municipality is implementing on its uncultivated land? Is there a schedule for cleaning the land? Is there an intervention plan to prevent the triggering of interface fires, for the areas bordering the built-up areas, for the external perimeters of municipal lands? Can the city be informed? The questions arise spontaneously because taking a tour around the city and the suburbs you can’t see anything different from the beginning of spring/summer 2023.”
The councilor for Civil Protection, Vincenzo Pantano, questioned by the QdS, replies: “This year we brought the ordinance forward by a month. We will shortly launch the tender for the clearing of 350,000 m2 as every year. We are intervening in the main trigger points, in the most sensitive areas adjacent to homes, based on the fire register. We can’t do everything for economic reasons. An entire budget would not be enough to be able to intervene in all the areas pertaining to the Municipality”.
