Improper use of a hive smoker caused the forest fire that burned about 450 hectares of area between Brañuelas and Bierzo Alto, in the municipalities of Igüeña and Torre del Bierzo, in the province of León. The Civil Guard announced this Wednesday the beekeeper identification to whom this “serious imprudence” is attributed.
This is the result of an investigation carried out by agents of the Nature Protection Service (Seprona) who went from the barracks of the Fabero Army Institute to the scene of the incident to try to determine the reasons for the origin of the fire. Their work has made it possible to clarify the circumstances that caused the flames and their spread to the mountain. The man will be at the disposal of the Astorga court of custody, as an investigator, once the procedures carried out by the Civil Guard have been completed.
Serious imprudence will be attributed to him, because in times of great danger of forest fires, the use of smokers in the hives This is one of the prohibited activities, unless the beekeeping facility has a three-metre wide fire-break perimeter free of vegetation, the professional has a fire extinguisher backpack filled with a minimum of 16 litres of water and the smoker is transported inside a metal container with a hermetically sealed mechanism, inside which it lights and can be extinguished when no longer in use.
The Brañuelas forest fire broke out on Monday afternoon. Immediately, the flames advanced at high speed, fanned by the fire. The danger led to the declaration of alert level 2 of the Infocal plan, the mobilization of the Military Emergency Unit and the confinement of the inhabitants of the municipalities of Almagarinos and Tremor de Abajo.
Damage to hives and livestock
This Wednesday, the Junta de Castilla y León lifted this restriction and lowered the alert level, after confirming the stabilisation of the fire in a vast perimeter of ten kilometres, where the flames are still present, although the columns of smoke are no longer visible. The fire has ravaged pine forests, poplar plantations and scrubland.
Hours before the identification of the alleged perpetrator of the fire, the mayor of Igüeña, Alider Presa, had deplored the damage that the incident had caused, precisely, to numerous beehives and livestock.
