Charlie Smith
NINE people have been arrested over 11 separate forest fires across six Spanish provinces.
One man in the northwestern area of Lugo is alleged to be behind six outdoor blazes in total.
A Guardia Civil spokesperson said that individual was using ‘slash and burn’ agricultural techniques to clear land, but that his ‘gross negligence’ sparked the fires.
Meanwhile the most serious inferno was that of Gran Canaria, which saw 1,500 hectares of woodland go up in flames and hundreds of people evacuated.
There were also arrests made in Avila, Leon, Castellon and Caceres.
Police data has revealed that over the last 15 years almost all forest fires in Spain are in some way sparked by human activity.
In 2019 alone officers have reported human involvement in 98% of fires, with agricultural work and the use of machinery increasingly involved.
The arrests come amid a Guardia Civil summer campaign against forest fires.
