by InTrieste
A 16-member contingent from the Friuli Venezia Giulia regional civil protection service returned Tuesday evening after a four-day mission assisting with wildfire suppression efforts on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius in southern Italy.
The team — 14 volunteers and two officials — departed early Sunday morning to support operations combating a large blaze that had been burning for days in the Vesuvian area, particularly affecting the Terzigno Pine Forest, the Tirone Integral Reserve, and wooded areas in the municipalities of Trecase, Ercolano, and Ottaviano.
According to Riccardo Riccardi, the regional councillor responsible for civil protection, the mission demonstrated both solidarity with another part of the country facing an emergency and the operational efficiency of Friuli Venezia Giulia’s emergency response teams. “We thank all members of the mission,” Riccardi said in a statement.
The operational base was established in Terzigno, in the heart of the Vesuvius National Park, where the Friuli Venezia Giulia team was assigned a wooded area adjacent to the Carabinieri forestry station for biodiversity. There, volunteers engaged in direct firefighting and in protecting sensitive zones identified by the local fire operations director. A regional 5,000-liter water tanker played a key role, supplying operational pick-up trucks from both Friuli Venezia Giulia and other regional teams from across Italy.
The team also provided assistance with a forest firefighting module in support of firebreak construction led by the Italian Army’s earthmoving unit. Operations, coordinated by the national civil protection department, were conducted in cooperation with other regional teams and included nighttime interventions from the outset.
The mission, authorized jointly by regional governor Massimiliano Fedriga and Riccardi, had an allocated budget of €100,000 to cover operational and logistical costs. On-site logistics were supported by Campania volunteers, including the municipal civil protection group of Cercola, which has maintained a “twinning” relationship with Friuli Venezia Giulia’s civil protection service since the 1990s through the first “Vesuvio Plan.”
According to Riccardi, this long-standing connection lent the mission particular human significance. The local coordinator in Cercola expressed emotion upon seeing colleagues from Friuli Venezia Giulia again, recalling how their example helped inspire the creation of the first municipal civil protection group in the Vesuvian area.
