Canadair bases and firefighting logistics. Ciciliano speaks

Between Peschici and Vieste, hundreds of people were evacuated on Sunday morning due to a major fire. The same thing happened a little further north in the province of Campobasso, on the border with the Gargano. Two days earlier, flames fanned by a strong north wind had scorched six hectares of pine forest in the Padula Bianca area (Gallipoli). These are merely the most recent fires, in chronological order, to have struck Puglia and Molise over the weekend, not to mention what has happened (and is still happening) in Sicily over the past few months. According to data from the Civil Protection Agency, there were 574 requests for intervention by the State Air Fleet this year between 15 June and 26 July. This figure is higher than that of the previous year – during the same period there were 529 requests – but is nonetheless “entirely in line with past trends”, says Fabio Ciciliano, head of the Civil Protection Department. And we are certainly a long way from the 921 requests received in 2017.

Just two weeks ago, Ciciliano had been called to account by the president of Puglia, Antonio Decaro, who had requested that a Canadair be deployed to his region to tackle the fires, but the head of the Civil Protection Department had refused: the deployment of the air fleet follows a precise logic. In fact, the aircraft that eventually extinguished the fires in Peschici and Gallipoli were dispatched from other regions, namely Calabria and Lazio. Speaking to Il Foglio, Ciciliano explained that a clarification had been reached with Decaro regarding the allocation of emergency resources: “I realise that local people would like to have a Canadair right on their doorstep, but that’s not how it works.” The choice of airports where these aircraft are stationed “is dictated by certain criteria, such as equal distance from the hottest fire fronts, based on the causes of fires analysed in previous years”. So, year on year, the decision usually falls on the regions historically most affected, and these include the southern regions. But that is not all. “As well as the incidence of fires, the location is also determined by a whole range of supporting services in the vicinity, such as the ability for pilots to stay overnight in comfort, and the availability of spare parts and refuelling facilities. Taking these factors into account, there are six Canadair bases this year: Genoa, Ciampino, Lamezia Terme, Olbia, Trapani and Naples Capodichino,” says Ciciliano, pointing out that these locations “may change. It’s like playing chess.”

Before the start of the forest fire prevention campaign – which, since last year, runs from 15 June to 15 October, whereas until two years ago it began on 1 July and ended on 15 September – “a consultation meeting is held with regional authorities, the fire service and the Carabinieri to carry out an analysis. During these meetings, any new requirements from the local areas are identified”. However, the fleet does not consist solely of the 15 Canadairs; whilst these “tend to make the biggest impression, there are also 13 helicopters capable of carrying up to nine tonnes of water, whereas the Canadairs can only carry six”.

Helicopters and Canadairs together make up "the largest fleet of any European country". It is precisely for this reason that we are increasingly finding ourselves having to provide support to other countries rather than the other way round. Last weekend, we went to assist Tunisia and Spain, whilst, of course, ensuring that operational capacity in Italy was not reduced, and in the knowledge that, should it prove necessary, the aircraft can be recalled and deployed across the country.” What the head of the Civil Protection Department wishes to emphasise is that the bases are located at strategic points to cover the whole country and that, for this very reason, “the time taken to move from one place to another is truly negligible. Last month, Canadairs that had taken off from Genoa were used to tackle the fire that broke out in Val Grande. Some people asked, ‘But why, if the fire is in Piedmont, don’t they take off from Caselle?’ Simply because Genoa’s airport is by the sea; once it takes off, it loads up with water and then heads straight out to drop it, thereby reducing both the time taken and the frequency of operations.”

Ciciliano explains that, for reasons of redundancy and safety, there must be at least two bases, “and I explained this to both Decaro and the President of Sicily, Renato Schifani, a few days ago. Furthermore, if necessary – as happened last year – some temporary bases can be set up. If the aircraft needs to remain in the area after the operation, it can land at the nearest airport, provided it is capable of providing all the required services.” After extinguishing the flames, efforts are made to understand what happened, and it is here that Ciciliano, when discussing the issue of prevention, cites two figures: “Firstly, fires increase at the weekend. Secondly, let’s remember that during the Covid pandemic, there were almost no fires at all. These figures give an idea of the extent of human activity. Land management should be carried out on a routine basis and is the responsibility of the regions, but every now and then they tend to forget about it, except when things go pear-shaped, as has been the case in recent days.”