What do you do if you get lost in the mountains? Bear Gryles might suggest lighting a fire with some rubber or polystyrene to create black smoke but only on open ground and certainly not in a forest during summer when everything is tinder dry.
In 2005, Michael Hanks from Colchester got lost when he went for a walk with his girlfriend in the Sierra Nevada national park near his holiday home in the village of Acequias. He called emergency services and then lit a small fire within a circle of stones to send up a smoke signal so they could locate him. Unfortunately the fire got out of control and it took 227 fire-fighters using 12 planes and 20 helicopters eight days to extinguish the flames.
Now a court in southern Spain has imposed a fine of 10.6 million Euros on the man – 1.3 million Euros to cover the cost of putting out the fire and 9.1 million Euros for the cost of restoration and restocking the area.
I doubt that the 66 year old man will be able to pay that amount so it will be interesting to see what happens next.
No comments:
Post a Comment