Since the summer season is imminent, a meeting of the Provincial Committee for Public Order and Safety was held in the Civil Protection room of the Prefecture of Messina aimed at examining the initiatives and operational measures to be implemented, in this territorial area, to combat the phenomenon of fires forests and interfaces.
In addition to the representatives of the law enforcement agencies, the meeting was also attended by institutional, state and regional entities involved in various capacities in firefighting activities, including the Provincial Commander of the Fire Brigade, the Commanders of the Port Authorities of Messina and Milazzo, the Director of the State Forestry Company, the Director of the Departmental Forestry Inspectorate and the Head of the Provincial Service of the Regional Civil Protection Department.
Prefect Cosima Di Stani recognized the need to start preparing a joint prevention and intervention plan in the event of alerts due to high levels of danger from forest fires.
With this in mind, the strengthening of control of the territory by all law enforcement and police forces, of the coastal areas by the Port Authority and of the wooded areas by the Forestry Corps and the Fire Brigade has been envisaged. Fire, so as to enhance the work of prevention and deterrence against possible perpetrators of incendiary acts.
These activities will be carried out through the use of specific human resources in patrolling and stationing actions in the areas at greatest risk and through the preparation of video surveillance systems, the use of drones for aerial monitoring and camera traps for interception, also on a preventative basis, of those responsible and the elevation of the related sanctions.
The Head of the Provincial Service of the Regional Department of Civil Protection has ensured the support of the appropriately trained voluntary associations in the initial stages of starting fires which do not present particular intervention problems and in the monitoring actions of the phenomenon.
During the meeting, the main initiatives to be implemented to prevent the possible triggering of fires were also illustrated. Among these, the cleaning of road buffer zones by the Metropolitan City, municipalities, Anas and Cas has taken on particular importance.
Therefore, targeted works were carried out to weed the land and create “firebreak” paths. In this regard, finally, the centrality of the activity of the Mayors was underlined who, as usual, took steps to adopt the ordinances aimed at prohibiting the lighting of fires to eliminate plant residues during the period of maximum fire risk and, at the same time, oblige the owners of uncultivated lands, also through “damaging” replacement interventions, to implement land cleaning interventions.
The Metropolitan City and the Municipalities will also ensure their support through the use of local police and the use of their own video surveillance and trap cam systems.
