Historic Astronomical Observatory in Rome Evacuated Due to Fire

The vegetation fire that broke out on July 31st, 2024, in the early afternoon in Rome, on the Monte Mario hill in the area of ​​Rome near the center forced the evacuation of the personnel present at the Parco Mellini Astronomical Observatory, headquarters of the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics.

At the headquarters, at the time of the fire, the inauguration meeting of the Board of Directors was underway. The fire, of vast proportions for having occurred within a city, also forced the evacuation of the residents of several buildings and interrupted the broadcast of a television program on the public network.

Vegetation fires are often considered a problem of rural or sparsely populated areas, but in recent years the number of events affecting urban areas, putting residents or production facilities at risk, has increased dramatically.
Historical and cultural structures are often within such areas, as in the case of the Italian Astrophysics Observatory, and the risk assessment must also take this type of event into account, both for the safety of people and for the effects that heat and smoke can have on assets of historical or cultural interest. An interesting case of protection of this type is the Getty Museum.