TWO people have been arrested over the burning of agricultural waste that sparked a big fire on Sunday in the north of Alicante province.
They are said to be a father and son, who gave statements to the Guardia Civil on Monday lunchtime.
The forest fire in Serra Ferrer, between the municipalities of Tarbena and Xalo has burnt around 640 hectares and forced the precautionary evacuation of 182 residents.
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The government delegate to Valencia, Pilar Bernabe, said the two men were subsequently released pending an appearance before an investigating court.
She pointed out that the agricultural waste burning was authorised but ‘something had got out of control’, while Valencia president, Carlos Mazon, referred to ‘malpractice’ on the same day that he announced a ban on all such burnings until mid-October.
Work on extinguishing the blaze was progressing well on Tuesday morning, with flames no longer present on the perimeter and aerial means will be deployed to cool down the ground to stabilise the fire and then bring it under control.
Humidity levels keeping a lot of smoke at a low level and tricky terrain have made things difficult for fire crews since Sunday.
Tarbena’s mayor, Francisco Javier Molines, said early on Tuesday that he was very confident that the fire would be considered as stabilised over the coming hours and brought under control..
He believes that if progress continues to be made as it has been, that evacuated residents will be able to return to their homes on Tuesday.
“It’s logical that they really want to come back, they want to see how everything is,” he said.