Case of five firefighters killed in wildfire 10 years ago to go ahead

Ten years to the month since five firefighters lost their lives in a wildfire in Horta de Sant Joan in southern Catalonia, a local judge has announced that the trial of two individuals accused of causing the blaze will go ahead.

The two people accused of starting the fire in the forested area of Ports on July 20, 2009, will be charged with a number of offenses, including arson, five counts of reckless homicide, and causing reckless injury.

On the second day of the wildfire, an abrupt and unexpected change in wind direction led to six firefighters becoming trapped between a cliff and a precipice. With an immediate rescue impossible, only one of the six firefighters survived the ordeal.

Setting bail of eight million euros, the judge overrode the requests by the defense and the prosecution for more time to prepare the evidence, announcing the oral hearing that will open proceedings against the two defendants.

After two years of preliminary hearings, since 2011 the case has been dogged by appeals and court resolutions. To speed up the trial, the judge denied the defense and prosecution more time to make transcriptions of evidence from the preliminary hearings.

With the 10-year commemoration of the tragic incidents taking place last week, the mayor of Horta de Sant Joan at the time, Àngel Ferràs, told the Catalan News Agency (ACN) that "the wound has healed, but the scar still remains.”

Meanwhile, the surviving firefighter, Josep Pallàs, also spoke to ACN, saying that while his life is now generally “normal and calm,” the scar will never fully close until the people accused of causing the wildfire are tried in court.