The percentages of the last year
During 2023 Italy was hit by forest fires for a total area of 1073 km2 (almost a third of Val D'Aosta). Of these, approximately 157 km2 (an area comparable to the extension of Lake Como) was composed of terrestrial forest ecosystems. 63% was represented by evergreen broad-leaved trees such as holm oaks and Mediterranean scrub; 17% of coniferous forests and 15% of deciduous broad-leaved forests, predominantly mixed oak forests. The fires that occurred in Italy in 2023 were significant both for the overall extension of the areas affected (only smaller than 2021 in the last six years) and because they systematically affected only some provinces. The numbers are increasing compared to 2022, especially for total burned areas (+36%), and to a lesser extent for forestry areas alone (burned +6%).
The objective of the report
This is what emerges from ISPRA activities in the field of observations and monitoring of the impacts of medium and large fires on ecosystems. The aim is to provide detailed information every year to support policies for the restoration and conservation of terrestrial ecosystems at a national and local scale. The data relating to the fires are provided by the European Forest Fires Information System of the European Copernicus Emergency programme, and processed by ISPRA with artificial intelligence applications for the recognition of the ecosystems involved in the fires. In 2023, the regions of Sicily and Calabria alone contributed to more than 83% of the total Italian forest area affected by large forest fires. The Sicily region alone, with a total of 101 km2 of forest area affected by fire, contributed to 64% of the total national forest burned in 2023. In 2023 only 15 out of 20 regions were affected by large forest fires. The regions that do not have surfaces affected by fire are Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto, EmiliaRomagna, Marche and Umbria.
The various regions
Comparing the data with the previous year, the surface affected by fire decreases in 2023 in the Northern, Central-North and Central regions, while it increases in the Southern regions and in Sicily and Sardinia. The province that has suffered the most from the fires is that of Palermo with 43,5 km2, which alone represents 43% of the total regional forest burned and 28% of the total national forest affected by fire this year. Also in the provinces of Messina and Syracuse, 23 and 10 km2 of forest area burned respectively. In Calabria, in the province of Reggio alone, 20 km2 of forest areas have been affected by fire. 43% of forest ecosystems affected by fire in 2023 are located within protected areas, mainly belonging to sites in the Natura 2000 network.
The first glimpse of 2024
In the space of just four days, between 24 and 28 July 2023, approximately 80 km2 of forest area burned (on average 20 km2/day), almost half of what was burned in the whole of 2023. In the months of August and In September, an average of 0,3 km2 of forest burned per day. Another significant event occurred at the end of September, when 20 km2 of forest burned again between 17 and 23 September (on average 2,8 km2/day). From 1 January to 31 May 2024, a total area affected by forest fires was 39 km2, of which almost 12 belonged to woods and forests. Currently 80% of the areas affected by both total and forest fires are located in the Sicily and Calabria regions (Source ISPRA).