An Italian firefighter died on Wednesday while battling flames in southern Sicily, where dozens of forest and bush fires are raging, authorities said.

Around 100 residents, as well as 22 patients from a clinic in the inland town of Santo Stefano Quisquina – where temperatures have exceeded 40°C in recent days – were evacuated on Wednesday, according to the fire service.

The blaze, which has been raging for several days, has temporarily cut off the drinking water supply to around 20 municipalities, according to the local water supplier.

“6,000 personnel have been deployed and 20 aircraft are in operation,” said the region’s president Renato Schifani on Wednesday evening, adding that nearly 50 fires – out of 344 reported on Wednesday – were still burning.

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Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi on Wednesday evening announced the death of a firefighter who collapsed whilst battling the flames in the centre of the island.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of Alessandro Marchi, who died whilst fighting a forest fire in San Cataldo, in the province of Caltanissetta”, he wrote on X.

The 59-year-old died of a suspected heart attack, according to national broadcaster Rai. Another firefighter working in the same area was reportedly taken to Caltanissetta’s Sant'Elia Hospital after falling ill.

More than 160 fires have also been recorded in the last 24 hours in the neighbouring region of Calabria.

Calabria President Roberto Occhiuto in a video posted to social media on Wednesday said that many of the fires were started intentionally by individuals who had, amongst other things, tied rags soaked in flammable liquid to the tails of stray cats in order to spread the flames.

"We found delayed ignition devices that are the product of a mind that was not only malicious, but I would also say disturbed and criminal," he said.

A spokesperson for the civil protection department told AFP that the situation in Sicily was “serious”, adding that the fires “are fuelled by very high temperatures” and “extremely dry ground”.

Local newspaper Il Giornale di Sicilia, citing data from a regional agrometeorological network, reported on Wednesday that temperatures had exceeded 45°C in several municipalities in the centre and south of the island.

Due to man-made climate change, droughts are set to become increasingly frequent in Sicily, where some 70 per cent of the territory is considered at risk of desertification.

In August 2021, a temperature of 48.8°C was recorded on the island, near Syracuse, a record for mainland Europe according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).