The residents of Devesa del Saler will be able to sleep again without fear of smelling the smoke from the burning forest. The Civil Guard arrested a 59-year-old man on Wednesday night as the alleged perpetrator of at least one of the fires that have devastated this Valencian natural park since last summer, taking advantage of the state of abandonment suffered by most of the forest. with entire areas of it made up of now parched bushes that, in the event of a fire, burn easily.
This is a man of Spanish nationality, who works as a lawyer, is 59 years old and goes by the initials JCE, who will go to court this Wednesday. The agents had set up security checks in the park since the fires last weekend to prevent suspicious individuals from circulating along the forest paths.
As Las Provincias has learned, the focus was placed on it last Sunday after the latest fires this weekend. It was the neighbors themselves who warned of his strange behavior. The arrest, which seemed imminent at the beginning of the week, occurred this Wednesday coinciding with the search by agents of the Nature Protection Service (Seprona) of the Civil Guard of his home, located a few meters from where they began. two of those fires and an ideal place to supposedly start them.
View of one of the areas of the Valencian forest of El Saler destroyed by fire.
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![](https://s2.ppllstatics.com/rc/www/multimedia/2023/10/26/incendio-saler-0-krIF--650x455@RC.jpg)
The theory was that the now detained man allegedly used bottles with diesel fuel and a rag or piece of cloth, which he set on fire and put in the container. It is a kind of Molotov cocktail that burns slowly because diesel only ignites at a certain temperature. This method gave the suspected arsonist more than enough time to get away from the area.
Furthermore, both the Civil Guard and Firefighters thought that he lived in the area. Everything seems to indicate that this was the case, given that he has been detained in his home or in a second residence that he owned in an enclave of the natural park located very close to where two of this weekend’s fires started.
He liked to see “the mess made”
He would, therefore, be a person who would know the area perfectly, which would have allowed him to get away from the fires without arousing suspicion. However, experts believe that he liked to see “the mess he made”, something that he could do from his own house if, as this newspaper has been able to confirm, he has a home in one of the residential towers. of the environment.
The residents of El Saler have been especially in suspense since the last two weeks, when up to three fires (two of them at nightfall) broke out in the pine forests of the natural park. However, they have not been the only ones. Already in July these fires began, which neighbors and firefighters have always believed were caused because they occurred in very specific environments, the surroundings of the Gola del Puchol, and on very important days, such as the day in which I was going to pass through the area. Cycling round to spain. In total, throughout the summer and so far this fall, there have been nine fires that have made neighbors fear for their safety.
That is why residents have taken the opportunity to insist on some of their oldest demands, some heard, such as pruning trees near buildings, and others not so much, such as the request for more weed clearing in the area or removal of rubbish that can cause fires (such as bottles and broken glass, which can start flames when the sun’s rays shine on the bushes). In addition, they demand better access along the roads to allow the passage of firefighting trucks and more surveillance.
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