Police continue bush fire probe

Staff reporter AS the Guardia Civil continue their investigation into arson being the cause for Sunday's forest fires in Palma and Calvia, police have revealed that sixty-seven people have been detained on suspicion of starting bush fires in the first six months of this year. The Guardia Civil natural protection unit, SEPRONA, released a report yesterday explaining that out of the total number of forest fires to which the specialist Guardia Civil sector was called, 154 were started deliberately, 43 were due to natural causes, 90 were accidents and 212 the result of negligence, such as failure to control legitimate fires on agricultural land. The causes of the remaining 572 fires remain unknown. Of those arrested on suspicion of arsen, 26 were made during the month of June while March and April both witnessed 12. May had 8, February 6 and 3 were made in January. Of these nearly 70 detentions, 31 took place in Galicia, 19 in Andalucia, 6 in Valencia, 4 in Asturias, 2 in each of the provinces of Murcia, Catalunya and Madrid, 1 in Extremadura and 1 in Cantabria. As a direct result of these crimes, one person lost his life in Andalucia during April and another 7 were injured (3 in Galicia, 1 in the Balearics, 1 in Murcia and 2 in Valencia). In the context of the fires throughout the provinces to which they were called, the “eco-friendly police officers” calculated a total of 10'717.76 hectares of burned terrain in the first six months of the year. Analysing the individual regions of Spain, in Castilla-La Mancha there were 55 forest fires that burned 2'190.80 hectares, and in Galicia 172 that destroyed 2'186.81 hectares. The statistics point to these two provinces as having the largest areas affected by fire during this period. Following down the list comes Andalucia (with 1'477.45 hectares burned by 191 incidents of fire), Castilla y León (1'165.81 and 118 fires) and Extremadura (1'056.50 hectares destroyed by 80 incendiaries). Also in the first six months of the year, 789.22 hectares of land were incinerated in 62 fires; in Madrid 682.74 in 56 fires; in Valencia 462.28 hectares were destroyed by 146 incidents; in Aragón 43 fires burned 195.69 hectares; in Asturias 154.06 by 24 and in Navarra 132.12 by 14. Murcia suffered the loss of 68.11 hectares through 45 incidents of fire; in the Canary Islands 52.76 hectares were lost due to 14 fires; in Cantabria 7 fires were reported to have damaged 39.50 hectares and 20 fires in La Rioja destroyed 37.91 hectares.