Man sentenced to 7 years in prison for fires in Odivelas

A 57-year-old man was sentenced by the Court of Loures to seven years in prison for committing seven crimes of aggravated forest fire in Odivelas last year, according to the Lisbon Regional Attorney General's Office (PGRL).

According to a note published on the PGRL website, the events date back to the period between June 25 and September 7 of last year, with the fires occurring at the end of the day and during the night and always after the man had consumed alcoholic beverages.

The Loures Court found that six of the forest fires occurred on land adjacent to the Complementary Route 22 (IC22) and a residential area. One of the forest fires broke out in the town of Ramada, in the municipality of Odivelas, in the district of Lisbon.

These fires “ consumed a total of more than 2,000 square meters of vegetation and created a concrete danger for the houses there and their residents , which only did not happen due to the prompt intervention of the Odivelas firefighters and the local population who, in some situations, helped to extinguish the fires”, according to the PGRL.

Despite the conviction, the Public Prosecutor's Office is considering appealing the sentence, requesting that it be increased.