PJ arrests suspect responsible for two fires in Seia

The Judicial Police (PJ) announced this Sunday the arrest of the alleged perpetrator of two forest fires that occurred on Saturday in the municipality of Seia, district of Guarda.

According to the PJ, the suspect was arrested on Saturday, outside of flagrant crime, in collaboration with the GNR of Seia.

On Saturday, the GNR had already announced that it had detained the suspect at the GNR Territorial Post in Seia, but the arrest would be under the jurisdiction of the PJ as it could be a case of intentional forest fire.

"The fires were reportedly started using direct flames, in the context of an alleged dispute between the suspect and a neighbor, one near a house and the other in spontaneous vegetation, in a location favorable to its spread," reads the PJ note.

The alert was given by the neighbor through the emergency number 112 and the GNR of Seia sent patrols to the location with military personnel from the post who carried out the initial investigation of the event, identifying witnesses who pointed to the man as the presumed perpetrator, explains the PJ.

GNR officers found the 49-year-old man “with burns and minor injuries” and after his identification he was taken to the GNR Territorial Post in Seia.

The investigation is being conducted by the Guarda Public Prosecutor's Office and the detainee will be subject to the first judicial interrogation to apply coercive measures.

Saturday's fire in Sandomil, Seia, started in the morning and was only brought under control in the early hours of Sunday, a civil protection source told Lusa.

A spokesperson for the Beiras and Serra da Estrela sub-regional command of the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC) confirmed that the fire was declared under control at around 5:00 am.

The same source stressed that the fire was controlled “thanks to the work of the firefighters and the operators on the ground”, but admitted that the arrival of rain helped in fighting the flames.

The mayor of Seia, Luciano Ribeiro, said that the fire spread through several towns and industrial areas and destroyed "a vacant house, which was no longer habitable," and some agricultural outbuildings.

According to information available on the ANEPC website, at 5:15 am today there were 565 personnel responding to calls, supported by 176 ground resources.