Saturday, September 02, 2006

Galician forest fires


More than 2,000 forest fires, most deliberately lit, ravaged the North-Western province of Galicia in a two week period this summer, the worst fires in the province in 20 years, a regional government environment spokesman said Friday 1st September.
Galicia emergency service dealt with 2,055 fires during the first two weeks of August - up from 995 during the same period last year. Most of the fires were lit by arsonists. On Friday Police arrested a man suspected of having lit 94 fires since 2002, Two women died last month in a fire he allegedly lit.
Most of the fires raged between August 4-15 and scorched 77,000 hectares of land in a province which borders the Atlantic Ocean and is normally rain swept. Three new fires broke out in the region on Friday.
Police have arrested 52 people in connection with the fires this year. Four people have died in the fires.

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