LORENZO TONDO, Palermo

FIREFIGHTERS in Greece have now brought all major blazes in the country under control one week after hundreds of wildfires broke out across the country, killing 64 people, making at least 4000 homeless and costing an estinated £800m.

Property speculators have been blamed by many for the unprecedented emergency, but across the Ionian Sea, Sicily has been dealing with a near-identical - and not unfamiliar - crisis.

Seen from above, the island looks more like an inferno. In the past two weeks it has been ravaged by nearly a 100 fires which have claimed the lives of at least a dozen people, including four last Sunday. Extremely hot temperatures of up to 46 degrees and a hot wind arriving from African are feeding the flames and helping fires spread.

Police suspect the Mafia is responsible. Mimmo Fontana, president of the National Environmental League (Legambiente), said: "In Sicily, the Mafia sets fires for speculative motives. They are experts in destruction and reforestation because after the flames there is a lot of money to be made by those who put out the fire and those who replant the trees.

"Forest fires have become an entrepreneurial activity. In short, the Mafia's strategy is quite simple: the organisation burns down forests so their own companies will be awarded money by the state or regional government to replant trees in the area."

Cosa Nostra's techniques for setting bush fires are cruel in themselves, often using live cats to get the blazes going. The cat is soaked in petrol and set on fire. It then starts to run and lights the undergrowth. occasionally a long burning rope is attached to the tail.

The Mafia, which is also fire-raising to clear land for building, has also been setting fires in a way that creates a barrier around small towns and communities near the chosen woodland. This makes evacuation and rescue efforts very difficult.

The female owner of a house in the province of Palermo lives near a wooded area that was recently set ablaze. she said: "I saw with my own eyes first one fire start, then another, and then another. Three blazes a short distance away from one another to guarantee that the fire would surround us."

The Italian government has now decided to send armed forces to the region to deal with the situation and some are calling for them to take the place of forest rangers in the coming years to ensure the arsonists are penalized.

Italian police recently made their first arrest when two members of the Mafia were surprised by authorities as they attempted to start a fire. Alfredo Morvillo, the judge leading the investigation, commented: "In Sicily, the Mafia is present any time huge investments of money are in play. Reforestation, replanting burnt down trees, is one of these."

In past weeks the arson has spread beyond Sicily to Calabria at the southern-most tip of the mainland. It is evident the Calabrian Mafia, the N'dragheta, is the cause of these blazes.-AP