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| Two people die as 'deliberate' forest fires ravage Spain | |
| 2005-08-09 | |
| Two people have died in the struggle to put out forest fires which are ravaging parts of Spain. Francisco Javier Tirado Rodriguez, 29, died on Saturday helping to fight a blaze started that day in Casavieja in Ãvila. Rodriguez, who is well-known in his home town for his work protecting the environment, was hit by rocks which became loose during the fire. On Monday, officials said the fire had destroyed an estimated 800 hectares of forest and was believed to have been started deliberately. On Sunday, in Galicia, in Orense, Antonio Diaz, 50, died as he piloted a plane spraying water over an area engulfed in flames. On Monday, more than 27 fires were still burning throughout the country, many started during the weekend which experts had warned would be especially hot and dry. Fire fighters in the province Castilla y Leon were tackling 11 fires which had destroyed some 4,100 hectares, with the most serious being highlighted as that at Avila and a second in La Cabrera in Leon, which had destroyed 3,100 hectares. The farming and fishing minister Elena Espinosa, who visited the family of Rodriguez to give her condolences, called for people to behave responsibly. She pointed out that the vast majority of the forest fires this summer have been started deliberately and stressed "the majority of the burnt woods will be difficult to restore".
There were "many faults to be addressed," she added. However, the minister said the conservatives were wrong to accuse the socialist government of "letting people die" and "little short of involuntary homicide". "There hasn't been a single year in history when there has been so little rain," she said, adding that those circumstances made exceptional measures necessary. The minister said she would consider vetting local festivals which used fireworks and bonfires, in addition to the ban the government has already introduced on smoking and lighting bonfires in certain zones. Narbora said she still felt bitterness, anxiety and powerlessness when she thought of the 11 volunteer firefighters who lost their lives in the Guadalajara fire last month. She pointed out that during the conservative PP government's eight years in power, more than a million hectares were destroyed in forest fires and 32 people died. | |
| Posted by:leader of the pack |
| #3 I won't absolutely rule it out, but we've had local idiots starting fires out here for decades. Worse, our area is becoming more susceptable to fire, as non-native invasive species come in. The Sonoran desert never used to burn, as there was too little fuel spaced too far apart. Now things like African Bufflegrass (thanks, Mexico) in filling in the areas, so it can burn, killing the native vegetation (Saguaros explode like a jihadi), and being the only thing that grows back after a fire. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2005-08-09 10:30 |
| #2 Yes, last year several groups boasted that they had set some of the wildfires in the US southwest. Difficult to verify, since there are large tracts of undeveloped land there and lightening strikes are common. As I recall they were al-Qaeda affiliates and boasted that Allah was giving them helpful conditions (a relative drought) for the 'attacks'. |
| Posted by: leader of the pack 2005-08-09 09:33 |
| #1 There are many fires each year in France too, and most of them are deliberate. I'm certainly bigoted in thinking that, but I can't help having the (probably at least partially unjustified) impression that a disproportionnate part of theses fires are lighted by yobs of north-african background. Some of the arsonist caught are voluntary firefighters of farmers, but from last year I recall having a few infos about for example a serial arsonist near Marseilles who was a "youth" (coded word for muslim "juvenile", up to 35 years old and counting), or how firebombs were used to set several fires at once in several locations. There seems to be a tropism of such "youths" with fire, from church, school, gymnasium,... arsons to garbage cans, cars (tens of thousand each years, over 400 in Paris area on this 14th july alone) fire... not to mention horrific cases of people being assaulted with flammable materials, like this nurse set on fire by a "maniac" on Xmas day two years ago IIRC (she lost her two hands), to a young muslim girl being burnt alive for refusing herself to a suitor (who was hailed as a hero by the crowd of his pals when police brang him back for re-enactement), or to that mall cop disfigured and maimed by a firebomb when the mall was swarmed by an aggressive revenge-seeking gang of homeboys. I can't help thinking perhaps there is a quasi-terrorist touch to this, a bit like the forest arsons in Israel (wasn't there a claim about Us fires being terrorist too?), probably not even organized by a "mastermind", but as a general symptom of contempt and hatred for the country, or sheer badness. But then again, I'm probably just paranoid. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2005-08-09 08:38 |