Vesuvius fires, the cameras are coming. Principals of Fire fighters, cameras infrared for night vision, planting of native tree species in the areas burned five years ago. Stefano Donati, director ofVesuvius National Park Authority takes stock of forest fire prevention strategies during the summer period.
Starting from 2018, thanks to an agreement with the Fire fighters, there are two principals since territorio of the Park, spread over the two slopes: they are two teams of five men each, with vehicles and first aid systems.
"With these facilities we obtain a remarkable promptness of intervention, almost always limiting the fires to the initial outbreaks. In addition, the Vesuvius Park Carabinieri Department operates in the area, with about thirty men, and the Caserta Biodiversity Carabinieri Department, with another ten personnel between military personnel and workers", explains Donati.
“The Forest Fire Plan also provides for the continuous updating of the vulnerability and fire danger maps, so as to know in advance which areas to keep under greater observation. We are also developing a project, funded by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, for the use of satellite data and sensors, to continuously monitor the temperature and humidity of the soil”, goes on.
The 'electronic eyes' also allow for widespread monitoring of protected areas. “The entire perimeter of the Park is now protected by a video surveillance system managed by nine wireless backbone points, with 32 cameras (17 fixed and 15 motorized), some of which are infrared for night vision, and ten license plate readers. The system is managed by the Carabinieri Park Department, which has also been provided with a drone for surveillance and investigation activities”, he explains again Donati.
One of the goals is to prevent dramatic fire of the July 2017 and revive the areas that were set on fire. For this reason, Donati explains, “we have defined, with the support of the Department of Agriculture of the Federico II University, a methodology for the renaturalization of burned areas, without intensive reforestation interventions, but with the planting, with random distribution, of 'islands' of species typical of the Vesuvian area, native and resilient to fires. This allows us to accelerate the natural revegetation processes, already underway. For now we have planted over 10 thousand plants with small interventions financed by companies with corporate social responsibility projects, involving about four hectares. We are about to tender two large projects of 40 hectares each, financed by the Ministry of Ecological Transition”.
So, five years after the serious fires, the Park has demonstrated an exceptional ability to recover. “It's the so-called resilience, which in ecology is a very specific term in the sense that the vegetation has recovered with great strength even in an absolutely natural way”, concludes Donati. "It is not necessary that a certain number of hectares burned corresponds to a certain number of hectares reforested. The important thing is to monitor and intervene in the most affected areas and we are able to do so thanks to the studies we have done with the Department of Agriculture and to ensure support for what nature is already doing spontaneously".
Article published on 18 July 2022 - 22:41
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