Day-Trippers Confess to Starting Deadly Forest Fire in Central Spain

July 19, 2005
A group of day-trippers confessed to starting the blaze that killed 11 firefighters in central Spain in the country's worst firefighting loss in years, an Interior Ministry official said Tuesday.

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- A group of day-trippers confessed to starting the blaze that killed 11 firefighters in central Spain in the country's worst firefighting loss in years, an Interior Ministry official said Tuesday.

The group of 10 told the Civil Guard that their barbecue in a nature reserve of pine woodland in the Guadalajara province east of Madrid ignited the fire, said Carmen Vallejo, spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry of the Castilla y La Mancha region.

Only the person who ignited the barbecue faces formal charges pending further investigation, she said.

The blaze, one of the biggest in Spain this summer and the deadliest in years, has charred an estimated 12,000 hectares (29,600 acres). Firefighters were still fighting the fire Tuesday but were expected to have the blaze under control later in the day.

''The fire is practically under control but not totally extinguished,'' said Vallejo. She added that only 40 of the 400 people evacuated had not yet returned home.

Police had blamed a barbecue that was not completely extinguished for the fire.

The firefighters, men and women ranging in age from 24 to 52, died after they were trapped in the fire Sunday when a change of wind altered the direction of the flames. Only two of the 11 bodies have been formally identified, Vallejo said.

Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega held an emergency ministerial meeting Monday after visiting the scene and called for tougher and speedier legal action against people who start such fires. She said that there were 16 forest fires throughout Spain over the weekend.

Fueled by high temperatures and dry conditions, fires destroy large stretches of woodland in Spain and neighboring Portugal every summer. Spain also is suffering from its worst drought since officials began keeping records in the late 1940s.

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