Poor record in catching arsonists

THE Balearics is one of the communities where Seprona (the nature protection service) guards have made the fewest arrests for starting forest fires, according to a recent report drawn up by the World Wildlife Fund/Adena. The report was compiled from information provided by the ministry of the environment, Seprona and the regional authorities.
The average number of forest fires in the period 1998 to 2003 was 134 a year, and the causes of an average of 98 fires a year were established.
At the same time, the average number of people identified as having started fires was 29 a year, but Seprona, a department of the Guardia Civil, only made two arrests a year. This means that in the Balearics arrests are made for only two per cent of the fires where the cause has been established, and the number of people arrested is only seven per cent of the people identified as having started a fire. Out of the total of fires recorded, there were arrests in only one per cent of the cases.
Another interesting fact revealed by the report is that the Balearics is the only region where the main known cause of forest fires is negligence by smokers, usually by tossing away lighted cigarette stubs, with an average of 14 fires a year in the period 1998-2003.
These 14 fires represent 15 per cent of the
K Only two arrests a year for arson were made in the
Balearics
total number of fires for which the cause has been established, which in turn are more than 70 per cent of the total number of fires.
In other regions, the known causes of forest fires are the burning of farm waste, lightning, burning of stubble or the passage of trains.
The burning of rubbish, the functioning of engines and machinery, vandalism, forestry work, bonfires, pyromaniacs, electricity lines, military manoeuvres or old fires breaking out again are other known causes, but they are not the biggest cause in any of the regions. In the Balearics, after smoking, the other known causes of forest fires are the burning of farm waste (an average of nine a year between 1998 and 2003), lightning (eight), burning of stubble (six) and forestry work (also six), according to the report.