We have had many fires in Sicily this year, more than last year and the fires are lit by locals; Messina, Ragusa, Taormina, Giardini-Naxos, San Vito Lo Capo and so on. So why do the locals want to burn their own land? Yes, it has to do with some typical local thinking “If I start some fires, I get more money in my paycheck”. You look only in to your own home and income, and do not care about other people getting effected by damages, healt issues caused by smoke, putting other peoples lives in danger, damaged properties, ruined businesses, burnt animals and so on. It is the mafia way of thinking.
Active in the tourist industry we follow these fires and the problems closely to see if our guests will be effected and if they need to be evacuated, like this hotel complex in Letojanni / Taormina that is one of the largest on the island had to be evacuated last friday. Reason is the same, locals started a fire just under the hotel. When fire fighters needs to have their contracts renewed, it is the same story we start fires to show the government that our jobs are needed, the locally famous forestale issue.
The fires starts normally the days it is very windy, like last friday the temperatures started to drop from over +40 ?C close to +30 ?C and late morning this fire was started. The wind was very strong and the fire grew very fast.
Italy is the country with most fires by far in the whole Europe and almost all of them are started by humans. Sicilians do not like very much to talk about the issue and say it is just few people doing this, but almost 50 people has been arrested this far and majority of the perpretrators are never found. This does effect also the tourism industry as guests choses other european destinations for their vacation because of these fires. I was personally shocked to see peoples reaction of anger learning to know that foreign media has written about these issues. Wouldn’t one be more worried about all the people who gets effected of these fires?
Last year many parts of Cefalu had to be evacuated because of one of the largest fires in Sicily in a long time, also this started by locals. The area had an immediate drop of a tourist and many local business suffered economically, many went bancrupt.
Article about 15 fire fighters arrested in Ragusa because they have started fires: Firefighters in Sicily accused of starting blazes for cash. For more information please use Google.
Do not be afraid to book your vacation here, Italy has the best crises team in the world, hotels are well prepared and foreign tourist offices are used to handle these issues very well. We have not been effected by any of these fires thanks to good preparation and observation.
Svenska
Vi har haft m?nga br?nder p? Sicilien i ?r, mer ?n f?rra ?ret och br?nderna startas av lokalbefolkningen; Messina, Ragusa, Taormina, Giardini-Naxos, San Vito Lo Capo och s? vidare. S? varf?r vill lokalbefolkningen br?nna deras egna land? Ja, det har att g?ra med ett typiskt lokalt t?nkande Om jag startar br?nder f?r jag mer pengar i min l?necheck. Du ser bara om ditt egen hem och inkomst, och inte bryr sig om att andra m?nniskor p?verkas av skador, orsakar h?lsoproblem p? grund av r?k, s?tter andra m?nniskors liv i fara, skadade fastigheter, f?rst?rda f?retagsverksamheter, br?nda djur och s? vidare. Det ?r mafia s?ttet att t?nka p?.
Som aktiv i turistindustrin f?ljer vi dessa br?nder och problemen n?ra f?r att se om v?ra g?ster kommer att p?verkas och om de ska evakueras, som detta hotelkomples i Letojanni / Taormina, som ?r en av de st?rsta p? ?n, var tvungen att evakueras i fredags. Anledningen ?r densamma, lokalbefolkningen startade en brand precis under hotellet. N?r brandm?nnen har behov av att f? sina kontrakt f?rnyade, ?r det samma sak, vi startar br?nder f?r att visa regeringen att v?ra jobb ?r n?dv?ndiga, det lokala ber?mda forestale problemet.
Br?nderna b?rjar normalt de dagar det ?r v?ldigt bl?sigt, liksom i fredags b?rjade temperaturerna sjunka fr?n ca +40 ? C till n?ra +30 ? C och sent p? morgonen startades elden. Vinden var mycket stark och elden v?xte v?ldigt snabbt.
Italien ?r landet med mest br?nder i Europa, och n?stan alla ?r startade av m?nniskor. Sicilianare gillar inte att prata om problemet och s?ger att det bara ?r f? personer som g?r det h?r, men n?stan 50 personer har arresterats s? l?ngt och majoriteten av mordbr?nnarna hittas aldrig. Detta p?verkar ocks? turistindustrin d? g?ster v?ljer andra europeiska destinationer f?r sin semester p? grund av dessa br?nder. Jag var personligen chockad ?ver att folkets reaktion p? ilska var n?r vissa fick veta att utl?ndska medier har skrivit om dessa br?nder. Vill man inte vara mer bekymrad ?ver alla m?nniskor som p?verkas av dessa br?nder?
F?rra ?ret evakuerades stora delar av Cefalu p? grund av en av de st?rsta br?nderna p? Sicilien under l?ng tid, ?ven denna startades av lokalbefolkningen. Omr?det hade en omedelbar dropp av turister och m?nga lokala f?retag drabbades ekonomiskt, vissa gick i konkurs.
Artikel om 15 brandm?n arresterade i Ragusa f?r att de har startat br?nder: Firefighters in Sicily accused of starting blazes for cash. F?r mer information anv?nd Google.
Var inte r?dd att boka din semester hit, Italien har det b?sta kristeamet i v?rlden, hotelln ?r v?l f?rberedda och utl?ndska turistbyr?er ?r van att hantera dessa problem mycket bra. Vi har inte p?verkats av dessa br?nder tack vare god f?rberedelse och observation.