Forest fire in Italy – Tourists flee Bibione beach – News

• Several tourists fled into the sea at the northern Italian Adriatic seaside resort of Bibione due to wildfires and were rescued by the coast guard there.
• According to media reports, the fire broke out on Friday afternoon in an area popular with tourists.
• Several fire brigades and a fire helicopter are working to extinguish the blaze on the border between the Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia regions.

Videos show how the fire burned trees that could be seen for miles and billowed thick smoke into the sky. “We hope that it will not be returned in the coming hours, but there will be no missing people,” Pierluigi Crocetto, vice mayor of San Michele al Tagliamento, told Anza news agency.

Police are investigating the cause of the fire. Because of the dryness, the flames may have ignited spontaneously, Crocetto says. Army fired four times.

Firefighters are currently battling forest and bushfires in Italy due to severe drought. 90 firefighters, two helicopters and two firefighting planes responded to a forest fire covering an area of ​​approximately 70 hectares in the municipality of Geriot (Fracilongo) in Trentino, northern Italy. Fire fighting continued on Saturday. The civil defense forces warned not to approach the area. Hiking and skiing area east of Trento.

Also in Tuscany, the Lucca fire brigade had to put out a fire in a burning olive grove on Friday. Forest and bush fires broke out in Sicily and Sardinia, and firefighting aircraft were used to fight them.