“As well as the €40 million already earmarked to combat hydrogeological problems, we still have €82 million in Cohesion Funds,” he said.
“Of these, €42 million could be used for a reforestation program and cleaning up streams.”
Though three wildfires are still active in the province of Cuneo, Mayor of Sambuco, Gian Battista Fossati, said on Monday that the emergency there was over, while authorities reopened the Maddalena highway connecting Italy and France, which had been closed for six days.
While blazes near Turin are now under control, authorities are advising residents in Mompantero, Cumiana, Locana and Cantalupa to stay alert.
Piedmont’s regional councillor for the environment, Alberto Valmaggia, said no one has been killed or wounded as a result of the fires, with the exception of several firefighters who were treated for smoke inhalation.
Valmaggia said firefighters were able to successfully contain and direct blazes away from homes at risk.
Carabinieri on Tuesday stated that evidence points to arson for the wildfires in the Susa Valley, north of Turin.
“Going by the way these fires have developed, everything points to arson,” Carabinieri General Antonio Ricciardi said.
Ricciardi added that authorities were working to find those responsible.
Meanwhile, in the neighbouring region of Lombardy, firefighters were back at work on Tuesday to control a wildfire which has already destroyed around 50 hectares in the Campo dei Fiori Regional Park, just outside Varese, about an hour north of Milan.
Firefighters and civil protection volunteers from across Lombardy are fighting the blaze, with the help of two Swiss Army “Super Puma” helicopters, which are specialised in fighting fires.
Schools in the town of Luvinate were reopened on Tuesday after being closed at the beginning of the week as a precaution.
With ANSA
