In Petín, a town in Valdeorras (Province of Ourense), on Monday chartered Two big buses so that their nearby 900 inhabitants They could go to the Courts of the region and defend one of their life of a lifetime. So far strange. The curious thing is what the neighbor in question was doing there, a 61 -year -old man wrapped in a yellow work monkey with ash spots. Days before the Civil Guard had arrested him for allegedly causing a fire.
For the authorities he is suspected of contributing to The fire wave which is sweeping hectares and hectares of Galicia. For its neighbors, the same ones suffering from the flames, it is a hero who has saved several homes.
An unexpected image. The Forest fire wave that has been shaking for almost two weeks Galicia has left many images. Flames. Brigadistas Ume. Trees devoured by fire, desperate neighbors and carbonized hectares. However, however shocking some of those prints, none is as shocking as the one that was lived Earl this week In the courts of A Pobra de Trives, Ourense, an area punished by fire.
On Monday there were more 150 people to support one of their neighbors accused precisely to cause a fire. The people in the area support it to such an extent that that same morning they left Two buses From his hometown, Petín (half an hour on Trives road), full of locals determined to defend the detainee. Among them was even the mayor, Raquel Bautista.
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What happened? To understand what all those neighbors gathered before the court, you have to go back a few days ago, to Saturdaywhen you flame them They harassed The neighboring municipality of O Bolo, which borders Petín. According to the neighbors, the detainee decided to lend a hand and went to the parish or Seixo to stop the progress of the flames. “In Petin we were somewhat calmer and warned that I was burning or seixing. That belongs to or bolus, but we had to help, just like they helped us,” He recounts The mayor.
In O Seixo the situation was not easy. “The fire moved with an incredible speed, the head was runaway and our astonish Explain to the newspaper The region Gwendal Ordonez, neighbor of O Seixo. In those were when Petín’s volunteers arrived (including the detainee) and “got” in the fire.
“With knowledge of cause”. The key to the case is what happened from that moment. The neighbor of Petín who has ended up detained considered that, given the circumstances, there was no better way to fight fire than with more fire and (According to the version of witnesses) tried to create a “firewall.” “He is a person who leads his life here and has faced fires, he probably knows better what to do people who have been four months,” assures A local before heraque that the detainee acted in good faith and “with knowledge of cause.”
And where is the problem? That, however well -known, that new fire turned on without authority And a UME member surprised Petin’s neighbor in the middle of the work. Other people who tried to quell the flames, Jorge Sixto, He counted Monday a The region How he looked for a forest agent to ask permission to make the firewall, but it was impossible.
“There was no danger,” he cries. Whether or not, the next day the Civil Guard stopped to the Petin volunteer for allegedly causing a forest fire in O Seixo. The man ended before the court of instance of A Pobra de Trives, the same place to which his neighbors went to defend him the next morning.
Hero, reckless or incendiary? The million dollar question. For now, justice seems to be clear that it must open an investigation for an alleged crime of forest fire. The Prosecutor’s Office has even gone further and Consider that the fire turned on “as an act that goes against reasoning” and its author acted knowing that he was doing it could constitute a crime. For that reason he has requested a elusive provisional prison measure with a bond of 2,000 euros.
For its neighbors the situation is very different. On Monday one of the slogans that was most chanted at the gates of the courts is that the detainee is “A hero”. “This man has been turning fires every day. What happened in O Seixo is that he made a counter to save four houses … And thanks to that we save them,” Sixto cries. The mayor insists in fact that since the fires began, “he was the first to put the case.” “At first we were very homeless. If it is not for people like this, none would have houses.”
An uncertain future. For now, man has been able to return home. On Monday the TRIVES court decided Put it freely, although as investigated for allegedly provoking a fire and with the order to appear on days 1 and 15 of each month. “If you want a Turk’s head, looking elsewhere, let us work. If they do not help us, at least they let us work, that we are going to defend ours,” The mayor insists from Petín, that Underline that the fire was already declared when his neighbor decided to create a firewall.
Images | Petin council and Ministry of Defense (X)
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