The forest fires, which have been blazing in southern Italy for a good two weeks, reached the capital region of Lazio on Friday night.
Near the city of Tivoli, about 40 kilometers east of Rome, around two dozen families from several blocks had to be brought to safety early on Friday morning because the fire that broke out in the Monte Catillo nature reserve had spread to the vicinity of the residential areas.
Throughout the day, seven fire engines and one fire engine were in action in Tivoli.
Most forest and bush fires continued to be reported from the southern Italian regions as well as from the Mediterranean islands of Sardinia and especially Sicily.
Matthias Rüb
Political correspondent for Italy, the Vatican, Albania and Malta based in Rome.
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In Calabria on the southernmost tip of Italy, four people were killed in connection with the forest fires by Friday. The head of the Italian civil defense, Fabrizio Curcio, traveled to the capital Catanzaro on Friday morning for talks with the Calabrian regional leadership and then got an idea of the situation in the Aspromonte National Park, which was particularly affected by the fires. Prime Minister Mario Draghi had a phone call on Thursday evening with the Mayor of Reggio Calabria, Giuseppe Falcomatà, about the latest developments in the nearby national park.
According to the civil defense, around 4,000 hectares of forest and maquis in the 64,000 hectare national park have been destroyed by the flames.
Draghi promised Falcomatà quick help for the affected people and companies in the region.
The forest areas destroyed by the flames are to be reforested.
The Coldiretti Agricultural Association expects the afforestation of the burned areas to take up to 15 years.
End of the heat wave on Monday
In Sicily and Sardinia, the civil defense again issued the highest forest fire warning level for large parts of the islands on Friday. For the weekend, maximum temperatures of up to 40 degrees were again expected on the islands as well as on the mainland. The Ministry of Health warned of a heat wave in 15 cities in the country and recommended not to be outdoors between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. According to the civil defense, 33 requests for the use of fire-fighting aircraft were received from all over the country on Thursday, nine each from Sicily and Calabria alone. France once again sent fire-fighting planes to support the fire-fighting work in Italy.
Civil protection chief Curcio called for improvements in the system of forest fire prevention as well as in the observation and monitoring of the regions particularly affected by fires.
Curcio expressed hope that an end to the heat wave from Monday will ease the fight against the fires.
Organized crime sets fire
According to Environment Minister Roberto Cingolani, less than two percent of forest and bush fires in Italy have natural causes, i.e. are triggered by lightning strikes.
In 71 percent of all fires, it has been proven that humans are the direct cause.
In a good 57 percent of the cases, arson can be proven, in almost 14 percent of the forest fires, carelessness is the cause.
More than half of all willfully or negligently man-made forest and bush fires in Italy occur in four of the country's 20 regions: Puglia, Calabria, Campania and Sicily. The regions in question are mafia strongholds. Organized crime sets fire to obtain insurance payments for destroyed land and, above all, to compel owners of forest, ranching and arable land to pay protection money. Firefighters are also repeatedly found to be arsonists. Most of the firefighters are on fixed-term contracts, which are extended accordingly in the event of continued forest and bush fires.