Vast fire on the island of Santa Maria, in the Maddalena Archipelago: 5 hectares of Mediterranean scrub destroyed

The uncontaminated nature of the La Maddalena Archipelago National Park was damaged on the afternoon of September 10th. Around 6pm, a violent forest fire broke out on the island of Santa Maria, quickly pushed by the wind until it reached the coast and bathed the sea with combustion debris. The provisional balance drawn by the authorities speaks of approximately five hectares of dense Mediterranean vegetation literally erased by the flames, in an area characterized by a fragile ecosystem and without road communication routes.

The complex rescue machine

The impervious conformation of the territory made an imposing and risky deployment of forces indispensable, coordinated by the operations room of the Tempio forestry inspectorate and directed on the field by Giannicola Zuccarelli. To tame the fire front, three regional helicopters took off, a Super Puma, a light aircraft from the Anela base and two Canadairs. At the same time, a fire brigade team was disembarked directly by sea thanks to a Coast Guard patrol boat, supported by further naval units of the Carabinieri, the Financial Police and the Forestry Corps which left from Palau to manage any emergencies.

The mayor’s alarm and the evacuations

The mayor Fabio Lai coordinated the civil protection operations on site, defining the environmental damage suffered by the island as very high. Faced with the rapid spread of the fire, some people chose to abandon their homes independently, although the flames fortunately did not reach the buildings. To guarantee the safety of the area, the mayor also requisitioned some private vehicles, embarking barracelli and civil protection volunteers to support containment and firefighting operations.

Investigations into the causes of the fire

While the delicate and laborious clean-up operations in the affected areas continue, forestry corps investigators have started investigations to trace the origin of the disaster. The point of origin of the flames was identified in the vicinity of some homes, leaving open hypotheses linked to imprudent conduct on the part of people present in the area. Maximum attention remains to avoid new outbreaks and protect what remains of one of the most precious landscapes in northern Sardinia.