Over 100 evacuated as huge wildfire threatens town near Agrigento

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 22 - Over 100 people have been evacuated from their homes as a precautionary measure due to a massive wildfire that is being egged on by sirocco winds and is threatening the town of Santo Stefano di Quisquina, near the Sicilian city of Agrigento. The authorities are especially concerned about stopping the flames getting to an oxygen storage facility, the Ignazio Attardi Clinic, a gas station, and a fireworks factory in the area. Firefighting crews are monitoring these areas as well as battling the blaze. "The situation is dramatic," Santo Stefano di Quisquina Mayor Francesco Cacciatore said in a Facebook post in which he told people living in the Canfuto and Bosco areas of the town to immediately leave their homes. Highways agency ANAS said a section of the 'Corleonese Agrigentina' State highway had been closed because of the blaze. Another fire broke out in the Addolorata Park, near Agrigento, during the night, destroying swathes of Mediterranean scrub vegetation. While wildfires are nothing new, scientists say they are becoming more frequent and more devastating because of stronger and longer heatwaves and droughts linked to the climate crisis. (ANSA).