A national park in southern Italy was struck by wildfire Tuesday, days after blazes destroyed several houses on Sardinia, forcing residents to evacuate the island's northern coast, according to dpa. More than 600 hectares of forest and bushland burned in the Pollino national park, after fires erupted in five different places. The flames were approaching a hill that is home to the park's famous Bosnian Pine trees, Ansa news agency reported. Park chief Domenico Pappaterra called for high levels of alert, after more than 6,000 hectares of the park went up in flames in 2007. Crimimal organizations were suspected of causing those fires. Meanwhile, further blazes had erupted on Sardinia after flames forced 800 hotel guests and local residents to leave the northeast of the island at the weekend. Hot, dry conditions led to new fires at the start of the week, threatening some homes and a military airport to the west of the island's capital Cagliari. Airplanes and firefighters sought to keep the flames under control, after they destroyed 1000 hectares of Mediterranean shrubs in the centre of the island. A spell of intense heat and dry weather across southern Europe have driven up the number of fires in Italy this year, where forestry officials have reported a 76-per-cent increase on last year's blazes.
