Arsonists using cats with soaked rags tied to their tails to spread Italian wildfires

Wildfires have ravaged much of the UK and Europe this week, and southern Italy is no exception.

But authorities are now investigating whether the flames may have been spread deliberately – and in a rather harrowing way.

Investigators believe arsonists sent live cats into the blazes ‘with flammable-soaked rags tied to their tails’.

Domenico Costarella, of Calabria’s Civil Protection Agency, said in a video posted to Facebook: ‘These animals were released into the fields, running around and spreading the fire.’

The Italian Association for the Defence of Animals and the Environment has filed a criminal complaint and is offering a €1,000 reward for information about who sent the cats into the flames.

Costarella said authorities also found glass bottles fitted with wicks and flammable liquid, which they say were used to set off fires in areas covered in dry grass.

It’s not the first time cats have been used as living ignition devices in the region.

In 2016, Italian police said the mob had used cats to start fires at a national park near Mount Vesuvius.

This year, fires have broken out across Italy, including near Rome and Sicily’s capital of Palermo.

Firefighters in the Calabria region alone put out more than 160 fires in 24 hours, Italian broadcaster RAI said on Wednesday.

Wildfires have broken out across Europe in recent weeks after relentless heatwaves created the perfect warm, dry conditions for the flames to spread.

In the UK, Wales has activated ‘crisis management arrangements’ amid concerns there are not enough helicopters to tackle fires.

Although wildfires are still burning in the north and south of the country, the Welsh government said the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had told it there was ‘no aerial support available for anywhere in the UK’.

Meanwhile, an ongoing wildfire in a Derbyshire moorland has scorched more than 600 hectares since it began a month ago – the equivalent of 900 football pitches.

The blaze, which started at Tintwistle Moor near Glossop, is still not extinguished as firefighters aim to manage hotspots and keep flare-ups under control.

Firefighters are expected to continue working at the site into early next week. The nearby A628 will remain closed in both directions between the A57 at Hollingworth and the A616 at Flouch until at least Monday.

The flames come following three record-breaking heatwaves in May, June and July, which saw the implementation of hosepipe bans and other safety measures.
Some 2,700 excess deaths were attributed to the heat in England and Wales over the course of the first two heatwaves.