The enormous fire burned continuously throughout the night and regained strength in the countryside between Nuoro and Orune since 12pm yesterday . From midnight on the city of Nuoro and the villages of Barbagia it began to "snow" ash, while dozens and dozens of curious people looked out from the Città Giardino area to appreciate the enormous front of the flames up to 30 meters high and visible for kilometers distance that on the horizon surrounded the entire industrial area of Prato Sardo.
The forestry and fire brigade teams on the ground continued to work throughout the night to try to limit the damage while waiting for dawn to arrive, when the aerial vehicles essential to try to put out a fire that devastated dozens of hectares of cork forests, sheepfolds and dozens of livestock killed, with farmers who tried to save their animals . The launches continue on site with four Canadair, two Super Pumas and three helicopters from the regional fleet.
And while the reclamation is underway, there is a first estimate of the damage, which remains to be confirmed: the fire would have devoured around 700 hectares of cork and oak woods, advancing with flames tens of meters high on two fronts, towards the west towards Orani and to the east, towards Benetutti. Several agro-zootechnical companies in the area were destroyed, especially in the Orune area. The wind is not currently blowing, but a reinforcement is expected and the teams on the ground and in the air are working to try to put out the outbreaks by this morning: it is already 31 degrees on the field.
The flames from Sa Serra originated from a re-ignition of the fire that broke out on Sunday afternoon and affected the territories of Benetutti, Orotelli, Orani, Orune and Nuoro . An unexpected evolution, initially everything seemed under control, but the high temperatures favored the re-ignition in several points. During the night the fire spread towards the territories in the “s'inforcau” area and towards the industrial area of Prato Sardo di Nuoro where it approached several farms and sheepfolds and at times threatened the industrial area .
The Regional Directorate for Sardinia of the Fire Brigade sent reinforcements with the mobile column from the Fire Brigade Command of Sassari in addition to the team from the Bono Detachment which gave support to the colleagues from Nuoro and Macomer, while the post of advanced command in the industrial area of Prato Sardo where the director of the State Police for the management of public order was also present for the entire duration of the operations . Two Sapr units with thermal cameras were also engaged. 8 people have been evacuated from 4 sheepfolds threatened by the flames . State Police and the Carabinieri who, with a large deployment of men, made it possible to better manage the road system and collaborated in the evacuation of the sheepfolds.
Great fear for two shepherds who remained trapped in their sheepfold surrounded by flames for an hour. They are miraculously alive , luckily the fire did not reach the barn and they managed to escape the fury of the fire that was raging. Another farmer tells the story: «They were trapped in the sheepfold surrounded by flames. They asked for help. I myself alerted a team that had a pick-up and took them to the pond, about a hundred meters away. Here it stopped, I also went to ask for help from another patrol, it was difficult to intervene alone."