Couple arrested for five fires in Viseu and Guarda during summer festivities
A 21-year-old woman and a 46-year-old man are suspects in deliberately setting fires in rural areas to create panic at popular events.
Couple arrested for five fires in Viseu and Guarda during summer festivities
A 46-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman have been arrested, accused of having caused five rural fires in the summer of 2025 in two locations in the interior of the country.
The fires occurred in areas of the municipality of Penedono, in Viseu district, and Mêda, in Guarda. According to an investigation by the Judicial Police, the suspects deliberately chose periods when communities gathered for traditional celebrations, intending to sow fear among participants.
The authorities explain that the ignitions would have been carried out with rudimentary means, taking advantage of dry brush near roads to facilitate escape. The proximity to traffic routes allowed the perpetrators to disappear quickly after the act.
As luck would have it, people passing on the roads saw the flames in their initial phase and immediately alerted forest firefighters and fire brigades, who also had aerial support. The rapid response prevented the fire from spreading to residential areas, extensive forests, agricultural land with chestnut production, and business installations.
The operation resulted from joint work between the Judicial Police, the GNR and the ICNF, as part of a specialised team in the prevention of deliberate ignitions in the rural interior of the Centre region.
The case is in the hands of the Lamego District Public Prosecutor's Office. The detainees will be heard by a judge, who will decide whether they will be held in preventive detention or subject to other restrictions.
Source: Correio da Manhã
Source: Correio da Manhã