Spanish police arrest four over new forest fires
Produced externally by an organization we trust to adhere to journalistic standards.
Spanish investigators said on Thursday they had arrested four people suspected of starting forest fires, taking the total number of accused this summer to 30.
Three of the latest arrests were in the northwest Castile and Leon region, where about 40,000 hectares (100,000 acres) of land have been devastated by fire, the civil guard said. Two volunteers have died battling the flames there this week.
One man was detained on Thursday over a fire in which 3,000 hectares of land burned around Puercas de Aliste in Castile and Leon, the civil guard said.
Another suspect was arrested on Wednesday over six forest fires between 19 July and 3 August around the southern resort of Malaga.
"Some of these fires were started very close to homes," said a civil guard statement.
Spain's Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told RAC1 radio on Wednesday that 25 other people had been detained for starting fires this summer and that many had been intentional.
The new arrests come as Spain activated on Wednesday the EU's Civil Protection Mechanism for the first time to tackle forest fires, Commission spokesperson Eva Hrncirova said on Thursday.
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