The Island saved by the Canadairs, the regional fleet is not enough

In the midst of so much devastation, it is a miracle that there were no major fires in the rest of Italy last Sunday. The emergency was in Sardinia and it was therefore possible for the national civil protection department to send ten Canadairs to the island: four to Posada, two to San Giovanni, two to Muravera, one to Monastir, one to San Priamo. Without their intervention, it is the consideration that runs from the headquarters of the national department to the regional civil protection operations center, for the ten helicopters of the regional fleet and for the teams on the ground it would have been humanly impossible to manage such an enormous fire front. With what consequences, it is easy to imagine.

Postcards from Hell

Hundreds of hectares in ashes, four injured, evacuated resorts and hundreds of people who have had to leave their homes. An inferno generated by intentionally set flames. The agents of the Forestry Corps have so far found several triggers in the area devastated by the fires in the south of the island and in Gairo. And it is in the aftermath of one of the most terrible days of the firefight that, with the approval of the law decree on justice (and not only), the Council of Ministers orders harsher penalties for arsonists. The minimum sentence for those who set fires in woods or forest nurseries increases from four to six years in prison. For negligence and not fraud, the minimum penalty increases from one to two years. Increase of one third of the penalty and up to half, for those who act to profit. The Ministry of Tourism increases the endowment of the fund available to tourists and operators damaged by the fires from ten to fifteen million. A fund that was designed for Sicily, now extended to Sardinia.

The CEO who isn't there

In Cagliari, meanwhile, the civil protection summit has been incomplete for over a month after the expiry of the contract of Antonio Pasquale Belloi, the former general manager who had been commissioned by Christian Solinas, an appointment for which the president is on trial on charges of abuse of office. An absence that stands out at a time when Sardinia is among the lands most exposed to the scourge of fire. There is an acting agent, but in terms of assuming responsibility it is not the same thing.

Direct line

"I don't think it's a problem, also because the head of civil protection from a political point of view is the councilor delegated by the president," says Environment councilor Marco Porcu. It is unacceptable, says Roberto Li Gioi, M5S councilor and member of the Environment commission, «that a position of great responsibility such as that of civil protection director remains uncovered. Even more in a region historically exposed to attack by arsonists".

political reactions

Lega deputy Dario Giagoni was in Posada and Siniscola yesterday: «We need to strengthen the means, with extraordinary aid for these areas already affected in the very recent past. I will ask the government for an intervention, starting with the suspension of payments for those who have suffered damage to homes and businesses".

PS