A wildfire between Sicily’s Zingaro Nature Reserve and Scopello has been contained after emergency crews battled multiple fire fronts overnight. The blaze, which ignited yesterday within the reserve and spread toward Scopello by nightfall, forced the precautionary evacuation of approximately 50 homes as smoke engulfed residential areas.
Castellammare del Golfo Mayor Giuseppe Fausto confirmed the emergency concluded around 8 a.m. following pre-dawn intervention by two Canadair water-bomber aircraft. “The evacuation was necessary but painful,” stated Fausto, noting flames illuminated Scopello’s hillside for hours before containment.
The mayor described “profound, incalculable environmental and economic wounds” to the region, thanking firefighters, forest service teams, reserve personnel, police forces, and civil protection groups Firerescue and Anopas for their coordinated efforts under the prefecture’s command.