Palma.—With the forest fire season due to come to an end shortly, the forestry protection commission, IBANAT, yesterday confirmed that so far this year, two people have been arrested in connection with starting forest fires and a further eleven individuals have been charged for various crimes related to arson - four more than last year.
The most active months were April, when four people were charged for conspiring to start a forest fire and August, when one person was arrested and three more charged.
While conditions still remain hot, the fire services hope that the recent rains will have cooled the forests and woodland down after a hot and dry summer which has had the forest fire service on red alert since the end of May.
Two arrested for starting forest fires this year
First fire of the year was in Acludia. | V.V.