A firefighter from a Jalisco Environment Department (Semadet) brigade has been sentenced to five years in prison for starting a major fire in the Bosque La Primavera on March 30, 2020.
Prosecutors said that following a disagreement with his colleagues, David “N” stormed off to a part of the forest in the municipality of Tala, where he piled up a stack of brush, before setting fire to it with his cigarette lighter. The fire spread rapidly, consuming around 42,000 hectares of the forest. In addition to his prison time, David “N” will have to pay 236,000 pesos in damages.