The mayor of Montesarchio, Carmelo Sandomenico, has asked the ASL of Benevento for a clear, town-specific picture of health and environmental risks following the fire in the industrial area of Airola, pointing to non-conforming forage samples collected in Bonea and Forchia as the reason for renewed concern in the Valle Caudina.
According to the report, Sandomenico is seeking a framework document with operational guidance: which areas remain subject to caution, which farmland is still under limitations, and where agricultural activity can resume. The Municipality of Montesarchio says it has already adopted ordinances to protect residents from potential risks and now wants consolidated health and territorial data to guide next steps.
Why the request has resurfaced
The mayor links the request to forage samples from Bonea and Forchia described as non-conforming. The sources consulted do not report the analytical values, sampling dates, or precise matrices for those forage samples, so the exact scope of those findings remains unclear from the available documentation.
The requested ASL map for Montesarchio was also not available in the documentation consulted, and no perimeters for the town were reported. That gap is central to Sandomenico's demand: without a published, Montesarchio-specific map, residents and farmers are left without a definitive reference for what is restricted and what is not.
What air monitoring has shown so far
In the early phase after the fire, monitoring near the site detected a combined concentration of airborne dioxins, furans and dioxin-like PCBs of 0.28 pg/Nm3 I-TEQ, above the reference value of 0.15 pg/Nm3 I-TEQ reported by the source.
ARPAC subsequently activated several monitoring points after the fire in the industrial area of Airola, including sites selected on the basis of pollutant dispersion modelling. Its more recent updates describe a consolidated absence of airborne dioxins in the monitored territory, with the latest results below the reference value or detection limit.
That distinction matters for readers: the reassuring air results apply to the area and sampling points actually monitored by ARPAC. They do not by themselves demonstrate the absence of any possible agricultural or health risk across all municipalities in the Valle Caudina.
The next step: farmland and soil checks
ARPAC has indicated further sampling of agricultural soils in the municipalities potentially affected by pollutant fallout as the next phase. Results from those soil samples were not yet available in the sources consulted.
This helps explain why requests for additional health and territorial data remain current even as the latest air-monitoring results are reassuring within the controlled area. Airborne measurements and soil and forage assessments answer different questions, and the second part of the picture is still pending.
What residents and farmers should watch for
For Montesarchio and the Valle Caudina, the practical issue is clarity. A useful ASL framework would need to specify the areas subject to caution, the farmland still under limitation, and the zones where agricultural activity can resume, with operational instructions rather than general reassurance.
The current status of Montesarchio's municipal ordinances remains unclear from the sources consulted, including whether they are still fully in force. Until the requested ASL data and perimeters are published and the announced agricultural soil results become available, readers should rely on official municipal and health-authority communications for the measures applicable to their specific area.
