France confronts arson problem after devastating summer of wildfires
Experts believe one-third of wildfires in France are set deliberately, with arson the biggest single cause of forest fires last year One is a boy of 15, who threw a burning cigarette into a wood near Bordeaux.
Another is a 36-year-old man who set a paper bag of rubbish on fire in bushes near Perpignan.
A third is a 50-year-old woman accused of lighting 17 fires south of La Rochelle.
According to the French interior ministry, since the start of a summer in which a record 115,000 hectares of forest, scrub and heathland have gone up in flames, 514 people – including 198 minors – have been arrested on suspicion of starting wildfires .
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