Around 3,000 residents evacuated in Tuscany as winds fan forest fire
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The fire, active since April 28, has spread over 800ha on Mount Faeta, straddling the provinces of Lucca and Pisa.
PHOTO: AFP
ROME – Italian firefighters were on May 1 battling to put out a large forest fire in Tuscany that has burned for days fanned by strong winds, forcing the evacuation of around 3,000 people.
The fire, active since April 28, has spread over 800ha on Mount Faeta, straddling the provinces of Lucca and Pisa, the mayor of a neighbouring town, San Giuliano Terme, said.
It was likely provoked by the burning of olive tree prunings that got out of hand, Mr Matteo Cecchelli told public broadcaster RAI.
Overnight, strong winds fuelled the fire, prompting the precautionary evacuations, Tuscany regional president Eugenio Giani said in a statement.
Three Canadair firefighting planes, which scoop water from lakes, rivers or seas before dropping it on fires, had been deployed to support ground staff, the national fire department said on social media platform X.
“The fire is still very much active,” the deputy mayor of Lucca, Mr Fabio Barsanti, said in a Facebook video.
“All efforts are being made to contain as much as possible the perimeter of the fire, but we cannot relax or make predictions because we are at the mercy of the wind,” he said. REUTERS
