Five people charged with starting devastating forest fires in Spain’s Asturias region

FIVE people have been charged with starting forest fires in the Asturias region over the last three weeks with police investigating a further ten suspects.

At one point at the end of March, authorities had to deal with 91 blazes with over 600 firefighters drafted in to deal with the incidents.

There are still 41 active fires across 25 municipalities in the region with six fires causing the most concern.

Asturias president, Adrian Barbon, last month branded the arsonists as ‘fire terrorists’.

Speaking on Monday, Barbon stated he could not go into the details of the arrests for legal reasons, but he was satisfied the perpetrators are being rounded up.

He described the fire wave as a deliberate ‘attack against Asturias’ and that lessons have to be learned to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.

Barbon thanked firefighters, rangers, and volunteers for their efforts to put out the flames and announced direct financial aid to repair the damage including replanting trees and providing help to affected communities.

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• Arsonists reponsible for 91 blazes in Asturias dubbed ‘fire terrorists’