00:00As Calabria in southern Italy burned, the media reached for the usual explanation, heat, drought, climate change.
00:06Then officials found the ignition devices, candles placed beneath combustible material, bottles fitted with wicks, rags soaked in flammable liquid.
00:14Most sickeningly, cats were found with fuel-soaked rags tied to their tails and released into dry vegetation.
00:20Someone wanted the countryside burning badly enough to torture animals and use them to spread the flames.
00:25And Calabria is not alone.
00:26In Portugal, a 20-year-old was recently arrested over seven fires near Chávez.
00:32Another suspect was detained over five fires around Guimaraes.
00:35In Spain, a man was arrested near the origin of the Lozoyuela fire, which burned roughly 700 hectares and forced
00:42evacuations.
00:43While in Argentina, investigators found evidence of an accelerant at the origin of the Puerto Patriar fire.
00:48Despite the best efforts of these depraved arsonists, though, burned area is at a record low in 2026 across Europe,
00:57Africa and the Americas.
00:58While the global trend remains firmly down, nobody has yet established who started the Calabria fires.
01:04But somebody prepared incendiary devices, soaked rags in fuel and tied them to terrified cats.
01:10That was not climate change.
01:12That was not climate change.
01:12That was not climate change.
01:14That was not climate change.
01:15That was not climate change.
01:16That was not climate change.
01:16That was not climate change.
01:17That was not climate change.
01:17That was not climate change.
