Italian wildfires claim 3 lives in Sicily as triple-digit temperatures fuel flames

Name: Wildfires close in on Palermo Airport in Italy
Uploaded: 2023-07-26T09:57:26-04:00
Duration: 2 min 25 s
Description: Video taken by Denise Bishop, of Sicily, shows the fires burning in Palermo near the airport. (Credit: Denise Bishop via Storyful)

Wildfires close in on Palermo Airport in Italy

Video taken by Denise Bishop, of Sicily, shows the fires burning in Palermo near the airport. (Credit: Denise Bishop via Storyful)

Wildfires raging in southern Italy fueled by scorching temperatures have claimed the lives of three people in Sicily as firefighters continue to battle fires during a European heat wave.

Sicilian regional President Renato Schifani confirmed in a Facebook post the fires had killed three people.

Officials with Vigili del Fuoco, Italy’s National Fire and Rescue Service, said firefighters have responded to more than 1,600 fires in three days between fires burning in Sicily, Calabria and Puglia.

Fire crews with the Vigili del Fuoco work to contain fires in Calabria, Italy. (Image credit: Vigili de Fuoco) (FOX Weather)

More than 5,400 firefighters are responding to blazes in southern Italy during temperatures in the triple digits. High temperatures are expected to reach up to 113 degrees in Sicily Wednesday.

Wildfires temporarily closed the Palermo Airport in the capital city of Sicily for a few hours when the flames reached the perimeter of the airport. Firefighters continue to monitor those wildfires.

Fire crews with the Vigili del Fuoco work to contain fires in Calabria, Italy. (Image credit: Vigili de Fuoco) (FOX Weather)

Video taken by Denise Bishop, who lives in Sicily, shows the "nightmare" of attempting to reach the airport on Sunday.

"We drove through so many fires right up to and across the road that I lost count. This is a bad situation," she wrote on Facebook.

In the province of Lecce, in Italy's "heel," a vegetation fire consumed pine forests and threatened homes. Firefighters used drones with thermal imaging to monitor the fire.

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2 others killed during severe weather in Italy

While fires burned in the south, Italy’s National Fire and Rescue Service has also responded to severe weather in the past two days in northern Italy.

Two people were killed, and a teen was injured during severe thunderstorms on Monday.

A tree falls over a car as heavy rain and wind cause damages in Milan, Italy on July 25, 2023. While high temperatures and forest fires continue in the south of the country, rainy and stormy weather affects life negatively in the northern regions. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) ( )

A general view shows a flooded street in Milan on July 25, 2023 after an overnight rainstorm hit the city. (Photo by Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP) (Photo by PIERO CRUCIATTI/AFP via Getty Images) ( )

A resident walks past an uprooted tree by the Castello Sforzesco in Milan on July 25, 2023 after an overnight rainstorm hit the city. (Photo by Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP) (Photo by PIERO CRUCIATTI/AFP via Getty Images) ( )

Cars move on a flooded road as heavy rain and wind cause damages in Milan, Italy on July 25, 2023. While high temperatures and forest fires continue in the south of the country, rainy and stormy weather affects life negatively in the northern regions. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) ( )

A general view of storm damage and fallen trees on July 25, 2023 in Monza, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Bremec/NurPhoto via Getty Images) ( )

Severe storms in Northern Italy caused widespread damage overnight into July 25, 2023. (Image: Vigili del Fuoco) ( )

Widespread wind and storm damage was reported across Treviso, Verona, Belluno, Vicenza and Padova provinces.