Palermo, flames, smoke and fear: firefighters tame the bonfire in Altofonte

No one was injured, a car and some uninhabited farms in the hills burned and very scared. It was a night that the inhabitants of Altofonte will hardly forget, the town of 10,000 souls that last night feared being invaded by the flames of an arson that developed at around 10 p.m. at five different points at the same time. Five sources that, thanks to the sirocco wind, in a few minutes created a front of fire more than two kilometers long on the hill that dominates and threatens the town throughout the night.

Chronicle

You call around Palermo, the mayor of Altofonte: “Abandon the houses”

by FRANCESCO PATANE ‘

This morning at 6 o’clock the fire was controlled by the six fire teams and three tanker trucks (one from Enna and one from Caltanissetta), by firefighting personnel from the regional forestry and by civil protection volunteers. More than sixty men who fought all night against the flames, preventing them from reaching the center of town. Some houses in the peripheral area, just below the hill, were touched by the flames. In one of these, firefighters were unable to rescue a parked car.

Mayor Angela De Luca already at midnight, when the danger of the fire became clear, ordered the evacuation of the inhabitants of the area downstream of the line of fire. It is about a few hundred people who spent the night in the facilities equipped by civil protection of the Don Pino Puglisi sports field, where the 118 health workers were present as well as the volunteers. Due to the fire, all the water destined for the houses on via Mohardella, Torrettella, Buttafuoco, Poggio San Francesco and Valle Malva was diverted and used to supply the fire fighting vehicles. The mayor warns that until the emergency ends, the water supply in homes will not be guaranteed. The counting of damages will begin today, which from a first estimate would already amount to several tens of thousands of euros, including damage to roads, private property and burned vegetation.

At 6.30 in the morning the Canadair and forest helicopters took off, which will have the task of putting out the fire. Then it will correspond to the technicians of the Prosecutor’s Office and the Police to initiate the investigations to find the arsonists who set fire to the hill above Altofonte. In fact, for the firefighters it is confirmed that the fire is caused, both by the five lights that exploded at the same time, and by the points where the flames occurred. The firefighters will be in charge of finding the traces left by the arsonists, while the carabinieri are already working to view the videos from all the cameras in the areas of the outbreaks.

Altofonte is the most important fire but since yesterday the Palermo firefighters have also been involved in other fires that have broken out in various towns in the province: Carini, Termini Imerese, Sciara, Polizzi Generosa and Santa Cristina Gela. There was also a fire in Monte Pellegrino. In that case, the aerial vehicles intervened.

“More than two hundred hectares of wood have disappeared in Altofonte and 400 hectares of land.” To tell Adnkronos is the regional councilor for Territory and Environment of Sicily, Toto Cordaro. But the fires have not only affected Altofonte, on the outskirts of Palermo. “There are two more dangerous fronts, Altofonte and Makari, in the Trapani area,” says Cordaro. We have a helicopter field and all the forestry detachments ”. And he adds: “The house at the head of the Altofonte forest has also been cleared …”.