German fire starter in court

The Second Section of the Provincial Court of the Balearic Islands will begin the trial today against a 49-year-old German man accused of starting three fires in Esporles in 2019.

The trial should have taken place in October 2022 but was suspended because the man failed to appear at the hearing and could not be located.

The Prosecutor’s Office requests six years in prison for the accused for a continuous crime of forest fire in a protected natural space and another crime of damage caused by fire.

The first of these events took place in the early morning of August 18 to 19, 2019, in a public parking lot in Esporles. Allegedly, using ignition pills, the man set fire to the front tyres of an official vehicle of the Department of the Environment – an SUV of the Balearic Institute of Nature (Ibanat) -. He also punctured the tyres with a sharp object.

Around midnight on August 20, a fire was allegedly started, also using ignition tablets, with three lights at a distance of 30 metres from each other. The fire converged into a single fire that affected 7,120 square metres of forest land within the Tramontana Natural Park, classified as a Natural Area of ​​Special Interest (ANEI).

The fire was controlled by Ibanat teams, as well as Mallorca Firefighters, Local Police, agents from the Nature Protection Service (Seprona) of the Guardia Civil and forestry agents.

In the early hours of August 25, the alleged arsonist acted again with the same ‘modus operandi’. He caused three ignition sources with ignition pills in plots of Esporles. The fire affected 2,000 square metres of forest land, also protected as in the previous case. The fire lasted several hours and was controlled with 40 Ibanat personnel, a forestry agent, a Local Police patrol from Esporles and three Seprona agents from Palma.

The man was arrested on August 26 when he was believed to be preparing to start a fire again in the mountains, according to the Guardia Civil, as he was caught carrying tools to start another fire.

The Guardia Civil also linked him to another fire behind the Esporles church, which affected only 100 metres of pine forest thanks to the rapid intervention of emergency personnel. The man remained in provisional prison until May 2020.

The Island Emergency Directorate of the Consell de Mallorca claims compensation of 7,751 euro for the costs of extinction. Compensation of 905 euro is also requested for the Government for the damage to the vehicle and another compensation for the Esporles City Council, the amount of which will be determined in the trial.

In addition to the prison sentence, the Prosecutor’s Office requests a fine of 8,100 euro and that the defendant pay the costs of restoring the area to its previous state, according to the project established by the Balearic Government.

Apart from this procedure, the man was also arrested by the National Police in Palma for a vehicle fire. The intervention of the emergency services prevented many cars from being affected and only the other two vehicles that were parked next to it suffered damage, in addition to the car affected by the initial fire.

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