Rome, Jul 27 (IANS): The regional government in Italy's Sardinia has declared a state of emergency after large swaths of land across the island were ravaged by wildfires in the last few days, according to the local civil protection department.

Besides the emergency, the regional emergency services in Sardinia also issued a new adverse weather warning on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The alert entails a high risk of new bushfires.

In an emergency meeting on Sunday night, after the national civil protection launched five operations with Canadair water-dropping planes on the island, the regional government declared the state of emergency.

The wildfire started on July 23 with a car that caught fire after a crash, and has forced the evacuation of at least 1,500 people from their homes.

It has devastated some 20,000 hectares of land so far.

Sardinia's Governor Christian Solinas said several farms and homes were destroyed, along with thousands of hectares of vegetation.

No casualties were reported yet.

Fanned by hot southwest winds, the largest bushfire in the Oristano area kept spreading along a front of almost 50 km as of Monday morning, according to the Nuova Sardegna newspaper.

Local firefighters have received support from Greece and France.