Private Story
The Volcano that Burnt on a Film Set
Paradoxically the film was meant to be about the work of the Department of Civil Protection (a sort of Italian FEMA), and the actors were going to pretend to fight the calamity, caused in the script by the volcano looming over the village.
The fire blazed instead almost undisturbed for the first three hours before the first water scooper arrived, and the following ones were not as effective as they should have been, because of malfunction. The island’s inhabitants found themselves abandoned by the authorities, fighting the flames with their own means for two full days and without sleeping, trying to save their houses, animals and gardens.
There were no human casualties, but tens of hectares of land burnt on a tiny island of 12 square km, and an investigation is underway to assign the specific responsibilities of the ecological disaster, triggered to shoot a scene that the municipality denies authorizing. Replanting trees on the mountain is crucial, because the strong rains that routinely hit the island in late summer and during the fall can easily cause mudslides that would directly impact the villages, now that there are no roots to hold the ground. A local organization, called Attiva, is setting up a crowd funding to plant 500 olive trees offered by a Sicilian nurseryman, but nothing concrete is happening on the side of the local authorities.
The production that caused the fire, called 11 Marzo, hired a drone pilot to map the damage on the territory, but it was also quick to start a petition among the business owners of the island, whose activities benefit from the earnings brought by a large crew, to be able to go back and shoot again in September.
Stromboli hosts one of the most active volcanoes in the world. In the film script the volcano was supposed to threaten human lives, but its daily explosions have not caused in 100 years the extent of environmental damage that a film set has provoked in a day.
Fire photographs © Sebastiano Cannavò
Aftermath © Gaia Squarci