The Spanish Civil Guard announced Thursday that it had stopped at least four people responsible for forest fires, including three in Castile-et-León, carrying around thirty the number of fire-related arrests that have ravaged the country since the start of the summer.
A man was arrested on Tuesday, suspected of being the “author of a voluntary fire having ravaged a total of 2,200 hectares in the municipal territories of Cuevas del Valle, Mombeltrán and El Arenal”, in Castile-et-León, a region of the North-West which concentrates all the attention of the country with nearly 40,000 hectares already devoured by the flames, indicated A press release.
On Thursday morning, another man was also arrested, seeming to be the origin “of a negligence criminal fire which affected around 3,000 hectares in the localities of Purcas of Aliste-Gallegos del Río”, still in the same region.
AFP
And on Wednesday, another suspect was arrested, “suspected of being the author of a criminal fire by imprudence” in Filiel-Lucillo, a fire that ravaged two hectares.
A few hours earlier, the civil guard announced the arrest of an individual “for a series of forest fires”, six in total between July 19 and August 3, near Málaga, in the south of the country.
“Some of these fires have been triggered very close to dwellings,” said the press release and burned four hectares of land.
AFP
Wednesday, the Spanish Minister of the Interior Minister recalled during an interview on Rac 1 radio that, since the start of the summer, 25 people had been arrested for provoking fires, stressing that a “significant number” are intentional, while others result from recklessness.
The Castille-et-Léon region has been plagued by flames for several days and two volunteers have lost their lives by trying to turn off the fire.
According to the European Forest Information System (Effis), the fire that rages in Castile-et-Léon has already reduced more than 37,000 hectares since it broke out on Sunday.