Arson blamed for blazes

Press, 21 August 1979, Page 8

Arson blamed for blazes

t NZPA-Reuter Marseilles Arson may have caused up to a third of the forest fires that have devastated large areas of the French Riviera and coastal -Spain this summer, according to officials in the two countries. The Prefect of Marseilles yesterday said he thought a third of the fires along the French Riviera had been started deliberately. He said convicted arsonists faced life imprisonment. In Madrid, Spanish forestry officials blamed arson for a forest blaze that forced the evacuation of 10,000 holidaymakers from villas near the Mediterranean town Of Castelion de la Plana. The officials said they believed the fire was started on purpose last Saturday night in six places within the space of two hours. Winds gusting up to 150km/h fanned the flames towards holiday villas and chalets, but there were no casualties and firemen yesterday put out the blaze. “It was a miracle the damage was not greater,”

said one official of the paramilitary Civil Guard. Over-worked firemen were later pressed into action in Barcelona province, where they extinguished 13 smaller fires before anyone was injured. Forest fires have caused 26 deaths in Spain this month. In southern France, two big blazes near the port city of Marseilles were reported to be under control as the treacherous Mistral wind died down. Firefighters near the fishing port of Cassis to the south-east said they expected to put out today a blaze that yesterday killed two of their colleagues. Their charred bodies were found in a blackened forest, the first victims of fires that have destroyed more than 40,000 hectares (100,000 acres) of woodland and scrub along the French Riviera this (nothern) summer. Officals said the two dead men were aged 21 and 23. He added that one had become a father less than three weeks ago.