Mossos agents arrested a 54-year-old man in Torroella de Montgrí yesterday for 12 forest fires caused this summer, between the months of July and August, in the Montgrí Natural Park, Medes Islands and Baix Ter, a natural park located between the Baix and the Alt Empordà, located on the Costa Brava. The fires happened with the Infocat Emergency Plan activated by the extreme drought.
The fires that occurred in the afternoon, some with several points of origin close to each other and started simultaneously in places difficult to access by the police and firefighting personnel, required having to allocate resources and the intense work of the ground and air emergency services of the Bombers, the Forest Agents, the Local Police of Torroella de Montgrí and of the agents of the mossos of the Bisbal d’Empordà police station, the Catalan police explained in a note.
The mossos of this police station opened an investigation to determine the responsibility of all the arsons, of which the most serious ones stand out, those that occurred on the July 22, August 12 and 13. However, other small sources of fires had to be put out during July, August and October.
Evictions
Specifically, in the early afternoon of July 22, there was a large forest fire very close to the Les Dunes area that required three days to turn it off and 12 more days to terminate it. In this fire they burned more than 92 hectares of forest mass of the natural area of the Massís del Montgrí, and although there was no structural and personal damage required the eviction of 150 people of a house of colonies of the population.
On August 12 and 13, there were two simultaneous fires in the Torregran i Torrevella area of Torroella de Montgrí, where a total of 320 square meters of forest were burned.
He performed again this October
Thanks to citizen collaboration, on October 13, all emergency services were able to act quickly to extinguish another two outbreaks of arson occurred on two trails in the Les Dunes area. Just six days ago, a small fire also broke out in the same area, affecting 10 square meters of an area covered in pine trees.
Related news
The investigation culminated this Monday, October 25, with the arrest of the alleged perpetrator of these 12 forest fires and has concluded that the arsonist prepared them by piling up branches, leaves and pine cones from the undergrowth and that he set fire with a lighter. Once the fires were lit, he would leave the area on foot.
The detainee, for whom there is no record, will soon be at the disposal of the court acting as guard of La Bisbal d’Empordà.
Reference-www.elperiodico.com