Yesterday, in addition to the fire that burned the area of the living nativity scene in Fagiano, in the province of Taranto, another significant fire broke out on the Ionian coast of southern Salento, in Lido Conchiglie, near Gallipoli, on so-called “Split Mountain”. The two sites affected by the fires have in common that they are located on a hilly area over which an expanse of woodland extends.
Montagna Spaccata is an area unfortunately accustomed to having to deal with fires in the summer, as the news reports testify. Like many areas of a region always exposed to the winds, the summer and the dry vegetation, to which in Salento are added the dry olive trees due to it is appropriate to say, for the spread of fires, whether they are based on the reckless action of arsonists or inattention.
And unfortunately the absence or scarcity of emergency vehicles and personnel returns to the center of the discussion, given that yesterday, at Lido Conchiglie, the firefighters of the Gallipoli detachment were not enough to get the better of the flames, but it was necessary to appeal, as usual, to Canadair coming from Lamezia Terme, in Calabria, who are called punctually in the summer to cross the Ionian Sea to come to the aid of the tormented Apulian territory, which lacks these means. They made several trips to drop the water taken from the sea on the most inaccessible areas of the slope that slopes towards the sea itself.
He intervened in the case the regional councilor of La Puglia tomorrow, Paolo Pagliaro: “Several times – he recalls – I highlighted the lack of a base for firefighting aircraft in Salento. A serious problem, just as I highlighted the lack of men and means to manage the risk of fires.” Pagliaro recalls having presented a motion two years ago, not yet discussed, to commit the regional council to “assign to the firefighters and civil protection associations the off-road vehicles and special vehicles purchased by the regional civil protection but unused, parked in the garages of the Province of Lecce and in the garages scattered throughout Puglia”.
An element that should certainly be verified, because if it were true, it would cause scandal. But equally alarming is the lack of personnel at the fire stations. Out of a potential workforce of 180 operators for the province of Lecce, the number of operational figures currently available is just 88 elements. Pasquale Cirillo, territorial coordinator of the FP Cgil Lecce, denounces how this serious shortage of specialized personnel leads, in the summer period, when the fire emergency is added to the normal tasks, an unsustainable work overload for the workers.
“The rescue device – explains Cirillo – deployed refers to five ordinary teams, three supports, a forest team for the entire period, i.e. from 15 June to 15 September. Furthermore, the forestry team partially doubled for a month, roughly starting from mid-July.” “This means that even just a minimal inconvenience, an unforeseen absence, an illness would be enough to create severe discomfort, to the point of sending the entire Command into crisis.”
As said on other occasions, in relation to other serious emergency situations, which put people’s lives at risk (from the reduction in the number of health facilities to the lack of interventions to make roads or the territory safe) but also the protection of natural environment, a State worthy of the name should intervene urgently to spend all the resources necessary to prevent such disservices from occurring. But unfortunately this doesn’t happen.
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