Three accused of forest fires in Ourense appear before Provincial Court
The Public Prosecutor's Office is seeking between four and six years imprisonment for three men, including a forest brigade member, for causing several fires in Ourense province between 2021 and 2022.
Trial for fires in Ourense: a brigade member among the accused
The Provincial Court of Ourense is holding on Thursday, 28 May, a preliminary hearing in the trial against three men accused of causing several forest fires in the province between 2021 and 2022. According to ABC, the Public Prosecutor's Office is seeking sentences of between four and six years imprisonment for the three accused.
Two of them are answering for half a dozen fires, for which the prosecutor is requesting six years imprisonment each for the continued offence of forest fire. The third, a member of the Trives forest brigade (Ourense) who was 19 years old at the time of the events, is accused of a single fire, for which four years imprisonment is being sought.
Compensation and fines
In addition to custodial sentences, the prosecution is claiming from the first two accused joint compensation of more than 49,000 euros to the Xunta de Galicia for extinguishing costs, plus an individual fine of over 4,000 euros for each. For the brigade member, the prosecution is demanding 5,000 euros in civil liability to the Galician Government and a fine of 3,600 euros.
The prosecutor contends that the three individuals acted "by mutual agreement" and used a Ford Focus vehicle to commit the fires.
The six fires charged
The two main accused are answering for six specific fires. The first took place in Manzaneda on 18 August 2021, affecting 0.08 hectares with an extinguishing cost of 3,604 euros for the Xunta. The second was recorded in San Xoán de Río on 23 August 2021, with 0.09 hectares burned and 3,012 euros in costs.
The third and fourth fires both occurred on 25 August 2021 in the municipality of Chandrexa de Queixa: the first at the location of Santa María de Rabal, with 1.23 hectares charred and 3,590 euros in cost; the second at Santa Cruz, with 1.98 hectares and 6,899 euros. The fifth fire occurred on 28 August 2022 in the municipality of Trives, parish of San Xoán de Barrio, where 12.3 hectares burned with an extinguishing cost of 27,007 euros. The sixth fire took place on 31 August 2022 in Trives, at the location of A Somoza, affecting 0.53 hectares with a cost of 5,004 euros.
It is in this last fire, that of A Somoza, that the prosecution places the participation of the brigade member, in collaboration with the other two defendants.
Background and provisional detention
The three accused were remanded in custody without bail on 7 September 2022. The brigade member was released on 28 March 2023, whilst the other two were discharged on 30 June of the same year.
When the arrests were made in 2022, the investigation also pointed to their possible connection with the fire in Ribas de Sil (Lugo), which occurred in summer 2021 and destroyed 1,500 hectares. However, that fire was left out of the prosecution's written case.
Conditions of extreme risk
All the fires "occurred in conditions clearly favourable to propagation", with a Daily Fire Risk Index (IRIDI) of "extreme danger", and affected areas included in the Natura 2000 network. According to Europa Press, the prosecution nevertheless acknowledges that "the environmental damage caused by the fires is of minor significance".
The fires affected multiple properties belonging to private individuals, who waived the right to exercise any civil and criminal proceedings that might be available to them. The proceedings originally arose from the Court of First Instance of A Pobra de Trives.
Source: ABC