Wave of wildfires rages across southern Italy

Rome, Aug 2 (EFE).- A wave of wildfires has been ravaging southern Italy, where firefighters have carried out 747 interventions over the past 24 hours, the authorities announced on Monday.

On the island of Sicily alone, firefighters have carried out operations to put out 257 fires, which required the dispatch of emergency teams from other regions of the country.

Italian prime minister Mario Draghi on Sunday declared the state of national mobilization of the civil protection system so that personnel and volunteers can be sent to Sicily.

The state of emergency was declared in Sardinia last week in the wake of a series of fires that hit the western Italian coast.

Since 15 June, firefighters have carried out 37,407 interventions to extinguish forest fires, some 16,000 more than in the same period last year.

Sicily was the worst hit with 8,669 interventions needed, followed by Apulia (8,628) and Calabria (3,785), all of which are located in southern Italy. EFE

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