BIBIONE (dpa-AFX) – Several tourists fled into the sea in the northern Italian Adriatic seaside resort of Bibione because of a forest fire and were rescued there by the coast guard. According to media reports, the fire in the area popular with German holidaymakers broke out on Friday afternoon. When asked on Saturday, the coastguard could not initially confirm whether Germans were among the rescued. Several fire brigades and a firefighting helicopter fought the flames on the border between the Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia regions. The operation continued on Saturday.
Videos showed the fires climbing up the trees and thick smoke rising into the sky, which could be seen from miles away. “We hope that it will not be revoked in the coming hours, but there should be no missing persons,” said the deputy mayor of San Michele al Tagliamento, Pierluigi Grosseto, the Ansa news agency. The police are investigating the cause of the fire. Because of the drought, Grosseto says it’s possible the flames self-ignited. The emergency services fought four fires.
In connection with the extreme drought, fire brigades are currently fighting forest and bush fires nationwide in Italy. In the municipality of Gereut (Frassilongo) in Trentino, northern Italy, 90 firefighters, two helicopters and two firefighting planes responded to a forest fire in an area of around 70 hectares on Friday. Firefighting continued on Saturday. The civil defense warned not to approach the area. The hiking and skiing area is east of Trento.
In Tuscany, too, the Lucca fire brigade had to put out fires in a burning olive grove on Friday. Forest and bush fires also raged in Sicily and Sardinia, and fire-fighting aircraft were used to fight them./jon/DP/zb