The Guardia Civil's Seprona division are conducting a thorough investigation to determine whether fires in Albufera this year have been with criminal intent.
This assurance was given in response to questions raised by a former Balearic environment minister and now member of Congress, Vicenç Vidal of Més. Vidal says that the fires were suspicious.
Matias Rebassa, the director of the Albufera Nature Park, explains that there were coincidences with the three fires in October. "They all started in the northwest area of the park on days when there were strong westerly winds."
Located in Sa Pobla, this is one of the main agricultural areas in the park. "I don't recall there ever having previously been fires so close together that affected such a large area of vegetation. It is the case, though, that fires in that area have often occurred since the declaration of the nature park 30 years ago."
Most of the affected habitat is reedbed, although there are also copses of tamarisk and smaller woods. The meadow orchid, an endemic flower that grows in the protected area, has not been affected by any of the fires because it doesn't grow in that area. Rebassa adds: "The firebreaks and the provision of aerial resources (water-bombing planes and helicopters) have been key in all cases, otherwise we wouldn't have extinguished them."
The last fire broke out on the morning of Wednesday, October 16 and took more than two days to be extinguished. It affected 109 hectares of reedbed. Three people had to be evacuated. More than 170 hectares were burned in October, there having also been two fires in May.
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