The man who caused the fire that has already devastated thousands of hectares in Ávila and forced the evacuation of thousands of people had been using heavy machinery for several days, which was prohibited, to open paths in the area of the environmental tragedy.
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This was stated by two witnesses in their statement to the Civil Guard, according to investigation sources. EL MUNDO has accessed the testimonies that make up the proceedings and also the statement of the investigated person, who is accused of an alleged crime of forest fire and another against natural resources and the environment.
He is an operator who, according to the initial stages of the investigation, disregarded the order of the Government of Castilla y León, which had restricted the use of these vehicles due to the threat that they could cause fire due to the heatwave.
The second person investigated in the Armed Institute’s inquiries is the owner of the machine, who was not arrested. Before the investigators, the operator admitted the facts, although he specified that he was not performing tasks.
Specifically, he stated that he was using the machine but was driving it to “move it from place to place”, not to work. He insisted on this idea throughout his statement.
However, subsequent testimonies and the work of the Nature Protection Service (Seprona) of the Civil Guard debunked his version. The ocular inspection of the area, first, and the technical report by the Armed Institute’s environmental experts showed severe contradictions in his version. The evidence, the same sources indicate, “was clear.”
The statement of the two witnesses was solid and persistent from the first moment they were called to testify. They claimed to have seen the operator using heavy machinery in the days leading up to the fire to open paths in Burgohondo (Ávila).
The owner of the heavy vehicle, for his part, refused to make a statement, as reported by the same sources. According to the investigation carried out by Seprona of the province of Ávila, the use of the vehicle caused sparks, and these would have been the origin of a fire that has already devastated 50,000 hectares and is pushing the agents working in the emergency to their limits.
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Furthermore, in the area where the detainee was working, the use of machinery was totally prohibited, and the regional government had even announced it. During the ocular inspection of the area and after carrying out the technical report of causes, in collaboration with the Forest Fire Investigation Brigade (BIIF) of the Junta de Castilla y León, it was concluded, according to the Civil Guard, that there were clear indications of heavy machinery activity.
The work carried out by the detained operator took place during days when the regional government had decreed the prohibition of using equipment that could generate fire in the mountains, and, furthermore, those involved lacked the corresponding administrative authorization and failed to comply with mandatory extinguishing measures.
The two men are accused of an alleged crime of forest fire and another against natural resources and the environment. The proceedings include the aggravating circumstances of affecting areas close to inhabited nuclei and having seriously damaged the balance of natural systems.
The mountain began to burn at 1:00 p.m. on July 22, when the detainee was driving the prohibited vehicle for which he had no license. A spark spread and the fire extended at “great speed” in a matter of seconds.
The proceedings will be sent to the corresponding court and the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Once the virulent fire is extinguished, a team from the Judicial Police of Ávila will carry out the initial ocular inspections and submit their conclusions to Seprona, whose agents will lead the investigation. Their inquiries will be recorded in a report that will detail the exact cause of the fire.
Given the seriousness of the fire and its consequences, the Central Environmental Operational Unit (UCOMA), a special group of the Civil Guard’s Seprona, will participate in the proceedings, as reported to this newspaper by sources from the Armed Institute.
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