The Guardia Civil have brought before a judge two suspects for having caused hill fires, one in Capileira and the other in Galera.

In both cases the accused had been burning branches or other vegetation when their fires got out of control and ended up destroying forest or mountain shrub.

In the case of the Sierra Nevada, the fire took place on March the 13th in an area known as the Cañada del Reguero within the municipal boundaries of Capileira. The fire destroyed around 400 sq/m of oak and willow, as well as silver broom and bramble.

The owner of the land on which the fire started had been burning cut branches when the wind changed and blew sparks towards the tree line, causing some to catch fire. He attempted to put the fire out with a hose, but to no avail.

The owner had obtained permission to burn cuttings from the Town Hall, however, the Guardia Civil consider that he had been carless and had failed to take adequate precautions as stipulated in the Decreto 247/2001 (forest-fire prevention).

In the case of the fire in Galera, the incident took place on the 16th of March in an area known as El Gotero. Again the suspect had been burning cuttings when the fire got out of control, burning several adjacent small-holdings and vegetation along the riverbank; some 2,000 sq/m in total.

Although this is the burning season when farmers can obtain permission to burn cuttings etc between 08.00h and 17.00h, the unusually dry weather has made this practice very dangerous, especially when next to woodlands.

In fact, the Guardia Civil is currently investigating another fire, but this time in Alpujarra de la Sierra (as reported in the online edition of the Seaside Gazette). Again, the cause appears to have been a bonfire getting out of control, but this time causing much more damage; 15 hectares of hillside and river valley, requiring two cortijos to be evacuated. It also caused a temporary power failure in Cádiar.

(News: Alpujarra, Granada, Andalucia)