MADRID - Spain has suffered its most destructive forest fires in a decade so far this year, the Environment Ministry said on Friday.
Some 124,000 hectares have gone up in smoke, two thirds of that in the northwestern region of Galicia.
Summer fires are a recurring phenomenon in Spain with an average 140,000 hectares burned every year from 1990 to 2004 although they have become more widespread in recent years.
Police arrested some 30 people in connection with the Galician fires and authorities have pointed the finger of blame at warring neighbours, property speculators, pyromaniacs and unemployed firefighters seeking work.
Four people were killed when 1,800 fires destroyed around 77,000 hectares of forest and some buildings in the first two weeks of August, the height of the tourist period, official figures show.
Some 86,000 hectares of Galicia's pine, eucalyptus and oak forests have been burnt down so far this year.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
