For 12 hours a day, the wildfire patrol searches for potential fire hazards in southern Italy

Thursday, Aug 8, 2024

Italian villagers form volunteer patrols to aid firefighters against increasing forest fires in vulnerable regions.

🔗 Read the article on elconfidencial.com


[This is an automatically generated summary, for reference only]

Residents near a town in Matera, Italy, who previously felt helpless during forest fires due to lack of training, have formed a volunteer group called “La comunità del bosco.” This group patrols during the summer to quickly alert firefighters and assist during interventions, having received first aid and fire response training. They actively contribute by providing local knowledge, such as identifying accessible routes and water sources, which has proven beneficial in saving time for emergency services. The text also notes that many Italian municipalities encourage citizen vigilance against wildfires. Globally, significant forest fires have occurred across the EU, with Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal being major affected countries recently. However, Bulgaria and Cyprus are experiencing record fire activity this year, leading to international aid requests, such as Spanish aircraft support for Bulgaria, highlighting the importance of collaboration in combating these escalating environmental threats.


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