It took the Infoca firefighters 27 days to extinguish the fire in a place in Los Guájares, in Granada, which was declared on September 8, 2022 and which ended up destroying 5,194 hectares. Almost a month in which five towns in the area saw the flames get dangerously close to their homes and which forced them to activate alert level 1, which led to the eviction of thirty residents from their homes and the confinement of as many others in Acebuche and Ízbor.
Behind this social, economic and environmental disaster, was the hand of man, but not just anyone, but rather someone who knew the terrain well and the damage it could cause. As reported by the Civil Guard through a statement, the alleged perpetrator who unleashed hell in the Granada mountains is a former forest firefighter who, at the time of the fire, was carrying out prevention work.
The 62-year-old man has already been arrested by the Benemérita after an arduous investigation, called ‘Lost Oasis’, which has lasted almost a year and has involved the collection of more than 100 testimonies as well as evidence and indications. that point, “unequivocally” towards him.
The investigations carried out by the team of the Seprona Environmental Judicial Police, under the name of ‘Lost Oasis’ once started the fire, started on September 8, 2022 in the Barranco de Girón area, it was considered extinguished on 5 October.
Now, one year later, the person allegedly responsible for causing some flames that affected municipalities such as Los Guájares, Albuñuelas, El Pinar, El Valle and Vélez de Benaudalla has been identified, and which caused considerable damage in the area: crops reduced to ashes with the consequent economic loss for the agricultural world of the area, and devastated pine trees and Mediterranean scrub, causing large and serious erosive damage to the forest and the destruction of the affected natural resources.
The analysis of numerous technical reports, ‘in situ’ reconstructions, analysis of physical evidence left behind by the flames to identify the starting point, as well as the use of investigative techniques for complex crimes, have allowed agents to gather different clues and they place the detainee “unequivocally” at the place and time of the start of the fire, “ruling out the participation of third parties”.
Members of the Central Operating Unit for the Environment of the Nature Protection Headquarters of the Civil Guard have collaborated in this work, as well as the Forest Fire Investigation Brigade of the Corps of Environmental Agents of the Junta de Andalucía, which , together with the team of investigators from the Benemérita, collaborated in the identification and location of the starting point of the incident.
The work carried out, which has led to the identification of the alleged perpetrator of the fire, has been one of the most complex faced in recent years by the Civil Guard, collecting more than one hundred testimonies during the investigation.
To fight the fire, more than a hundred aerial means were mobilized for days, such as amphibious and cargo planes on the ground, coordination aircraft and firefighting helicopters, as well as hundreds of fire engines, and bulldozers with “the sustained effort of infinity of forest firefighters and firefighters”.
The Civil Guard worked to perimeter the area to guarantee security, participate in the evacuation of people, maintain traffic safety and, ultimately, prevent the fire from claiming human victims. The incident reached a front of 60 kilometers.
