The Guardia Civil have arrested a man in connection with a forest fire in Huétor Vega on the 18th of July.

Although suspected of having caused the fire, it was not done on purpose, but was rather caused when his radio-controlled aircraft (helicopter) crashed after hitting electricity lines.

The fire started around 18.15h near the Camino de los Neveros, in an area of the municipality known as the Cañada Macuca.

Infoca soon put the fire out before it could spread, so that the affected area was only less than an hectare (0.75). Infoca alerted Seprona who sent out a patrol to the fire area, which was already extinguished by the time that they had arrived.

Searching the area, they came across what looked to be like a main rotor from a model aircraft. It appears that it hit HT lines between pylons, crashed to the ground and then the lithium batteries started to burn.

The police began their enquiries and found that a couple of witnesses confirmed that a man had been flying a model aircraft in the area during the previous days. From there it was a short step to identifying the model aeroplane owner. This 52-year-old man was also the first caller to report in the fire on 112.

He could face charges of causing the fire through gross negligence.

(News/Noticias: Huétor Vega, Vega, Granada, Andalucia)