Italy: Are arsonists to blame for the devastating wildfires in Sicily?

euronews (in English)

Twitter users have been sharing a video of a man purposefully setting fire to a forest, claiming it's arson - not climate change - that's to blame for the current wildfires in Sicily.

Transcript

00:00 They are arsonists behind the devastating wildfires in Sicily.

00:03 That's what some social media users believe.

00:06 Let's see if that's true.

00:13 Wildfires have been raging across southern Europe, in particular in Greece and on the

00:17 Italian island of Sicily, forcing thousands to flee.

00:21 Multiple Twitter accounts are blaming arsonists in Sicily, not climate change, for starting

00:26 the deadly fires there.

00:28 Watching this video they claim is evidence.

00:49 By doing a reverse image search, we found the original video.

00:53 It wasn't filmed in Sicily and has nothing to do with the wildfires this year.

00:57 The clip actually dates back to 2021 and was filmed near the Italian city of Potenza, close

01:03 to Naples.

01:04 According to local media reports, the 47-year-old arsonist in the video was caught and put under

01:10 house arrest in September 2021, facing up to 10 years in prison for purposefully starting

01:16 the fire.

01:17 However, the origin of multiple wildfires all over Sicily at the moment remains to be

01:22 determined.

01:23 In an interview with Sky Italy, the mayor of the Sicilian capital Palermo, Roberto Lagala,

01:28 said he believes the cause of the disastrous fires can only be arson.

01:32 But for the president of the Sicilian region, Renato Schifani, the situation is delicate

01:37 and unprecedented because of the very high temperatures combined with arson that are

01:41 creating this immense damage.

01:43 According to the French Ministry of Ecological Transition, 9 out of 10 forest fires are caused

01:48 by humans, mostly due to carelessness.

01:51 But heatwaves and droughts due to climate change are making forest fires more frequent

01:55 and more intense.

01:57 Hot weather and low rainfall have dried out large areas of land across Europe, creating

02:02 the optimal condition for fires to spread, according to this year's IPCC report.

02:08 For more fact-checks and investigations, check out our website, Euronews.com.

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