The men of the Forestry Corps knew it and feared it, the firefighting machine is dramatically inadequate and sooner or later it would have gone into trouble.
It has been happening since this morning in Calangianus, after the resumption of the fire, of certain malicious origin, in the cork oak groves around the town. The Sigara and Lu Fungoni fire, still in progress (the toll is at least one hundred and fifty hectares of forest gone up in smoke) is bringing to light the very serious problems of the fire-fighting apparatus in its current structure: numerous agricultural companies are affected and some homes are were evacuated as a precaution.
The air vehicles are insufficient and subjected to the stress of continuous interventions, today a Canadair was forced to ditch on the Liscia . In recent days there have been numerous problems for regional firefighting aircraft.
The conditions for effective clean-up interventions are no longer there, the Forestas teams are not enough and in Calangianus (as in other places in Sardinia) the flames have started again. There is no helicopter at the Limbara base and the observation network of lookouts has been drastically reduced.
The secretary of Safor (the Forestry Corps staff union) Ignazio Masala had said it in recent days in an interview: « This situation is the result of choices that have caused a decline in the fire-fighting apparatus». We talk, for example, about the very high average age of the operators and the impossibility of setting up teams on the ground. The mayor of Calangianus, Fabio Albieri, says: «For years we mayors have been denouncing the risks of failure to hire staff and the downsizing of services and staff. But we are not the decision makers. We can see the result now, I can see it like other colleagues of mine in Sardinia."