LISBON, June 16 (Xinhua) -- A 19-year-old firefighter in Portugal has been put in preventive prison for allegedly starting five forest fires in the north of the country, Portugal's judicial police said in a statement on Friday.
The fires took place in Coimbra, some 200 km north of Lisbon, between April 4 and May 25, and burned around 20,000 square meters.
According to the authorities, the fire did not affect more land thanks to a prompt response by local fire fighters.
The suspect used a lighter to start the fire. He wanted to take part in combating it, according to a statement by judicial police.
The judiciary police in 2016 detained 21 people for the crime of burning forests.
According to EU's Forest Fire Information System, wildfires in Portugal have burned more than half the land lost due to fires in the whole of the EU. Enditem
