A former forest firefighter arrested for a fire that burned 5,100 hectares in Granada

On September 8, 2022, shortly before two in the afternoon, a forest fire began in the municipality of Los Guájares (Granada, 1,100 inhabitants) that kept its neighbors and those of the other four municipalities in the environment in suspense and burned 5,100 hectares of forest. From the first moment it was suspected that he had been provoked. Almost a year later, its alleged perpetrator, a 62-year-old man who had been a forest firefighter, has been arrested by the Civil Guard.

Following the trail until his arrest has been an arduous and very complex task in which members of the Central Operational Unit of the Environment of the Headquarters of Nature Protection of the Civil Guard and members of the Forest Fire Investigation Brigade (BRIIF) of the Corps of Environmental Agents of the Board have intervened. "This has been a very thorough work," explains a source close to the investigation. "Very advanced investigation techniques have been used that allow us to locate a person in the specific place of the sign of the fire, in addition to interviews with a hundred people. With all this we began to square until we found him, "he says.

The alleged perpetrator is a Spanish man, and a good connoisseur of the environment and had worked in the fire prevention sector, performing tasks in the enclave where the fire originated. Previously, he had also worked as a forest firefighter, as confirmed by the same sources, which indicate that he had no record for similar events. The detainee has not assumed to have been the cause of the fire, but the Civil Guard has no doubt about the authorship because all the indications and evidence point directly to him, according to the interlocutors consulted.

In a very small percentage of cases, the perpetrator of a fire is identified and arrested. "Of 10 cases of arson, six or seven are clarified and the rest are never resolved," explains Miguel Ángel Ramos, secretary of communication of the Unified Association of the Civil Guard in Cádiz, who spent 14 years assigned to the Seprona in Huelva. The research, with a high degree of difficulty, usually lasts about 18 months on average. In general, the members of Infoca and the Civil Guard trace the origin of the fire that marks the very affectation of the mountain, analyze the earth to check if there are remains of accelerants, triangulate mobile signals or take statements from witnesses ... Sometimes even molds are made of the rolls of the cars. In the case of Los Guájares, forensic analysis with the use of very complex and advanced techniques, the inclusion of technical reports, on-site reconstructions, a hundred interviews with neighbors, geolocation systems that allow locating a person in the specific place where the fire originated and other evidence that the flames did not burn, They allowed to find the arsonist and rule out the intervention of third parties, indicate the sources consulted.

"The investigations of fires are like those of murders, but much more complex," says Ramos. "The essential thing is to locate the starting point and from there the investigation strategies are drawn up according to different factors: the conflict in the area, if there is rivalry between neighbors or with hunters, if there are people with similar backgrounds ...", he adds. Locating the exact place where the fire originated is of vital importance, also the amount of wind and the direction in which it was blowing at that time. From there, vestiges begin to be traced – cigarette butts that allow DNA to be compared, branches placed in a certain way, tire tracks ...-. "The triangulation of mobile networks in the area is the second phase, from the moment there are well-founded suspicions about a person, that allows us to verify where he was at the time of the fire, if he had accomplices ...", says Ramos. The speed of the actions also marks the start of the investigation: "The reactivation of the flames or that it rains can eliminate many evidence," says Ramos.

BRIFF members who worked on the fire last year located within two days of its start the exact place where it originated. "A point a few centimeters from a specific curve of the road that connects the towns of Guájar Faragüit and Guájar Alto," Antonio Aguilar, head of these brigades, told this newspaper. The fire, which took 27 days to extinguish, could have been brought under control almost immediately. Retired forestry agents – who, according to the sources consulted, have no relation to the detainee – went to the place where he began and tried to put it out. When they were about to get it, an ember caught on a neighboring gorse and got out of control.

The next five days were of unrest for the inhabitants of the area and for the 300 people and more than 20 aerial media involved in the extinction. The steep environment and no trails made it very difficult to tackle the slopes. The strong wind did not help to contain it either, and the fire as soon as it seemed almost controlled, as it was rekindled. After those five days it was considered stabilized and 27 later extinguished.

The reasons why the man arrested for causing the fire in Los Guájares decided to set fire to the mountain have not transcended. Ramos indicates that in cases in which the perpetrators have belonged to or performed tasks related to firefighting, "revenge is the main cause." "It is not usual for former firefighters to cause fires, but when they do it usually happens that they have been working all winter on extinguishing measures and then do not renew their contract. They tend to be resentful and are more dangerous because they have more recklessness, they know the terrain, the way their teammates act..."

Only a quarter of the fires investigated are intentional. According to the data collected in the 2022 Report of the Prosecutor's Office, 25.5% of the fires originated in 2021 were intentional and 63.5% were caused by negligence. Throughout 2022, 482 people were arrested or investigated for their relationship with forest fires, 7% more than the previous year (450 people), something that is explained because in previous years the pandemic limited access to the mountains.