Pyromanic behind 93 fires, killing three, arrested

1 September 2006

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA — A man was arrested for allegedly starting 93 forest fires in Galicia, one of which killed three people, police said on Friday.

The suspect was named as Serafin Pardinas, 52, from Cerdedo, in the province of Pontevedra that was devastated by the fires this month that covered over 8,500 hectares.

He is accused of starting a series of fires set between 2002 and 6 August this year, including the blaze that claimed the lives of the two women in Cerdedo.

The Cerdedo blaze began on 4 August and spread throughout an extended wooded area of more than 1,000 hectares.

A 75-year-old woman and her 50-year-old daughter died while travelling in a vehicle that was engulfed by flames and smoke.

That fire is considered one of the first and most destructive of the hundreds that raged in forested areas of Galicia in the first half of August.

A third person died days later from their injuries.

The arrest of this suspect brings to 51 the number of people detained in Galicia since the beginning of August in connection with the recent spate of forest fires.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news