Millionaire fine for two students to make a barbecue that burned a thousand hectares in Italy

Two 22-year-old students fined more than 25 million euros for organizing a barbecue that sparked a fierce

fire

forestry in the region

Italian

The fire, which spread over a thousand hectares of forest, began in the home of one of the grandparents of young people on December 30th.

One of the students told La Stampa that he "felt deeply" about what happened, even though the incident had several reasons. He added: "We are the scapegoats of the fire that has no explanation, we are the real victims of this story."

About the episode, they reported that they immediately alerted the brigade and that they had been thrown into the flames in an attempt to extinguish them. Prosecutors, meanwhile, consider that in addition to the extreme conditions of drought in the place, they are responsible alongside the owner of the place.

The fire could not be controlled in time and spread over Mount Berlinghera in the Lombardy mountains for several days. Of the 1,000 hectares affected, 100 of them suffer irreversible damage.

As a result, the authorities imposed a financial fine on each student of 13,542,000 euros. The sum is calculated according to local laws with a formula that takes into account the extent of the devastated area. According to the regulations, the amount of fine per square meter varies between 118 and 593 euros.

One of the defense attorneys told this press that such a penalty made no sense because the two culprits are students and are unable to pay the fine. One of the prosecutors informed the media, Il Giorno, that it was "a necessary step to show people that they should have greater responsibility for environmental protection".

The local brigade, which fought the fire, said in a Twitter post a week after the fire that 318 operations had been carried out to fight the fire, among which agents of projection of the fire. 39, water and extinction. For this, the mouths of the Canadair national fleet were used to fight the fires of the forests of Como and Varese,