The fire broke out on Sunday March 29 in the Llano de las Cabras area, in land lying between the municipalities of Totana and Aledo that forms part of the Natura 2000 Network and carries Special Protection Area status for birds.
By the time it was brought under control, 429 hectares of Aleppo pine forest, scrubland and low-lying vegetation, some of it protected, had been destroyed.
Investigators from the Guardia Civil's Seprona environmental unit carried out a detailed inspection of the scene and established that the fire originated from the burning of vine shoots during the uprooting of grapevines, which had taken place on March 26, four days before the fire started.
Their conclusion was that the burn hadn't been fully extinguished and that wind in the area carried an ember around 12 metres into the adjacent woodland, where it took hold and spread.
The investigation also revealed that while the farmer did hold authorisation to burn plant debris, the plot where the burning took place wasn't covered by that authorisation. Seprona specialists further confirmed that the burn had breached a number of conditions set out in the regulations governing the controlled disposal of agricultural plant waste.
The farmer was subsequently located and formally charged as the alleged perpetrator of a forest fire caused by negligence.
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