Forest rangers on Tuesday had to be called in to help battle a series of new fires which broke out on the peninsula, the corps' central command said. A total of 18 major fires broke out, the majority in the south with six in Calabria and five in Puglia, while rangers were also sent to help firemen battling three blazes in Basilicata, two in central Lazio, one in Marche and one in the northeast region of Piedmont.
Between midnight and 5pm, the forest ranger service said it had received 445 calls to its emergency number to report fires.
Tuesday's number of reported fires did not include the islands Sicily and Sardinia, the regions which last year respectively had the highest numbers of fires and lost the greatest amount of acreage to fire.
Last year a total of 7,951 fires were reported to the forest ranger service and although this represented a 19% increase over 2004, there was a 21% drop in acreage lost to fires, 47,575 hectares.
A report by the forest ranger service said this was thanks to swifter and more efficient responses to forest and brush fires.
The report also said that 64.5% of last year's fires were cases of arson and another 14.4% were suspect, while only 0.6% could be blamed on natural causes and 0.9% were caused accidentally.
