One more month of firefighting campaign. Because climate change and the great heat also force Lazio to review its plans. And the wooded and valuable areas are under special surveillance: the pine forests of Ostia, the urban woods such as those of Monte Ciocci and Monte Mario and more generally the areas that characterize the greenery of the city. This year the Rocca administration has decided to start the firefighting campaign on June 15th and will end on October 15th. The Lazio Region wants to strengthen the intervention program: for this reason it has already allocated 7.9 million euros foreseen by the latest Regional Plan for Forecasting, Prevention and Active Fight against Forest Fires 2023-2025, with which a total of almost 20 were allocated million euros (seven more than the previous Plan). In particular, among the sums allocated for this year there will be 3.8 million euros for the forest firefighting air service, 2.8 for the agreement with the firefighters. The entire regional territory, for the period of maximum forest fire risk, is considered an area at risk.
CRITICALITIES
108 out of 378 municipalities have a “very high” fire danger class. Among these are the Municipalities of Rome and then Anzio, Aprilia, Cassino, Fiumicino, Frosinone, Latina, Marino, Nettuno, Viterbo. Evergreen scrub and pine forests have greater difficulty in extinguishing: they are very rich in resins and have an aggravated risk due to their high flammability. And there it is very difficult to put out the flames due to the particularly tangled vegetation. Very high risk for the steppes of Lazio (such as those of Terminillo). And it is very high for the garrigues, those areas with Mediterranean scrub vegetation with very low evergreen shrubs. As stated in the dossier, “it resists the flames for a few minutes but then explodes like a bottle of petrol”, the Spanish broom which does not catch fire as quickly as other plants but which has a high difficulty in extinguishing. For this reason the greatest attention is on the pine forests of Ostia, on the reserves between Castel Porziano and Castel Fusano, the areas between Focene and Fregene, Castel di Guido and then all the green areas of the semi-periphery belt such as Insugherata and Veio.
THE TEAM
The regional device will be made up of 500 operational voluntary organisations, 4,200 specialized volunteers, 300 pick ups with a fire-fighting module, 67 tankers, 120 multi-purpose vehicles with a fire-fighting module, 105 drones, a helicopter for urbanized areas and islands, 6 helicopters for wooded areas. The agreement signed with firefighters and prefectures provides for the strengthening of the presence in some areas, including La Cacciuta, Cerveteri, Pomezia, Montelibretti, Fiumicino, Palestrina, Tivoli, Velletri, Frosinone, Sezze, Fondi, Sabaudia, Ponza, Viterbo and Borgo San Pietro di Petrella Salto. The presence of operators from the operations room of the regional emergency, civil protection directorate and the single emergency number 112 will then be strengthened and training plans will be developed for civil protection voluntary associations who will be able to participate in operational exercises with the participation of fire fighters.
I STUDY
According to a study published in the Regional Fire Prevention Plan, the majority of fires (49.2%) started in wooded areas, 28% started near roads, 13% from uncultivated areas, 5% from crops . 72.83% of fires are arson, while 5.38% are negligent. Of these, 1.9% are caused by cigarette butts. 21.51% of the fires were of unknown attribution. The percentage of fires with unknown or accidental causes in Rome is high: 34%, the highest percentage in Lazio.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Read the full article at
The messenger
