Italian firefighting aircraft to draw water from Lake Weissensee

Italian firefighting aircraft will continue collecting water from Lake Weissensee on Sunday morning, ORF reported. A section of the lake between Mühlzipf and Paterzipf will be closed to visitors during the water collection, the Carinthian state government said.

The aircraft will operate between 8am and 1pm. Visitors and holidaymakers have been asked for their understanding.

Forest fires are still burning in the Canal Valley near Tolmezzo and Illegio, as well as near Chiusaforte. Italian aircraft have been helping to fight the fires, joined by two Slovenian aircraft over the past two days.

Firefighters, police, water rescue teams, the municipality of Weissensee, the Carinthian state government and the Spittal district authority are coordinating the operation.

Carinthia Governor Daniel Fellner said the cross-border operation showed the strength of cooperation in the Alpine-Adriatic region. He said mutual assistance was becoming increasingly important as forest fires across Europe showed that changing climate conditions were contributing to more frequent fire disasters.