Sardinia is burning, 670 fires in June: firefighting with limited manpower
The numbers are higher than the average for the last ten years. Among the causes of the fires are high heat and depopulated countryside.
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Since the beginning of the year, 903 fires have already broken out in Sardinia, slightly above the 10-year average of 778. 4,283.71 hectares of land have gone up in smoke (10-year average: 2,652 hectares), divided into 127.32 hectares of forest, compared to the 292-hectare average.
Of the total number of fires, a good part occurred in June, 670, while in the first days of July there have already been 33.
"The cause," explained the commander of the Regional Forestry Corps, "is a combination of events that have made this June particularly difficult: high heat, year-round rain, and a lot of dry debris . Furthermore, the problem of rural populations is making this mix dangerous."
The data was released by the Region and the Civil Protection Department on the sidelines of a meeting with the Forestry Corps, firefighters, Forestas, Arpas, municipalities, and volunteers, all involved in the 2026 firefighting campaign.
A campaign that opened, however, with the state of agitation of the forestry unions due to staff shortages : around 1300 on the staff list, around a thousand in service but just under 700 operational and with a high average age.
"Currently, we can say that the resources deployed, especially the air assets, are absolutely sufficient to ensure the interventions," explained Regional Environment Councilor Rosanna Laconi . "We still have a lot of work to do with ground resources, so I confirm the need to further strengthen the ground staff . I'm referring to everyone, not just the Forestry Corps, which needs strengthening, but also Forestas, which has already hired new staff between the end of 2025 and 2026, with further hires expected this year. And of course, we're also continuing to strengthen the volunteers working in the area."
Overall, the air assets deployed on the island are: ten regional helicopters, two national helicopters and three Canadairs in Olbia , in addition to the three fire brigade helicopters in Alghero .
On the ground, in addition to the forestry corps, there are 1,500 people from the Forestas Agency who provide 157 stations with 273 lookouts, while the firefighters, who have opened eight seasonal and two rural stations in addition to the 29 always operational, are participating in the campaign with over 250 firefighters on duty and volunteers with 2,500 men in the field from 190 associations that deal with forest fires.
(Unioneonline)
