(AFP) - Firefighters have intervened more than a thousand times Tuesday throughout Italy to fight fires, often brush or scrub fires, sometimes threatening foci, as on the slopes of the volcano of Vesuvius , To the east of Naples.
The most critical situations at the end of the day were localities near the national park of the Vesuvius volcano, on fire on a front of two kilometers with very high flames. Some restaurants and dwellings were evacuated.
Throughout the day a column of smoke from the top of the volcano was visible throughout the Gulf of Naples. Ashes have also reached a section of motorway.
According to the Italian agency Agi, the prosecutor of the seaside town of Torre Annunziata (located at the foot of Mount Vesuvius and next to the ruins of Pompeii), opened an investigation to determine the exact origin of the fires.
The Civil Protection Operational Center on Tuesday conducted 37 water-release operations, mostly in Sicily, using Canadairs and helicopters.
Firefighters have had to intervene a lot in Sicily, where there are strong summer heat and many roads have been blocked.
In Messina, at the northeastern tip of Sicily, a town surrounded by fires that had to evacuate homes and a university on Monday, the situation improved markedly on Tuesday. In particular, the flames devastated 2,000 hectares of olive groves and vineyards.
The natural region of the Gargano, a promontory that advances in the Adriatic Sea in the region of Puglia (south), has also been affected by fires since Monday. The situation seemed to be under control on Tuesday, but the fire spread to other areas due to the wind, Civil Protection said.
Firefighters were also very active on Tuesday in Calabria, the region of Rome and Abruzzo.
Italie: multiples incendies, le parc national du Vésuve en feu
