Man charged with starting Bohemian Switzerland forest fire

A 36-year-old former volunteer guard has been formally charged with general endangerment and damage to another's property for starting the largest forest fire in Czechia's history in Bohemian Switzerland last year, Czech news site iDnes reported on Wednesday. The same man also set fire to a lookout tower and seating areas in nearby Děčín in April this year. The defendant, who is now in custody, has partially confessed to the crime, but his motives remain unclear. He could face up to 15 years in prison.

The fire, which took 6,000 firefighters 20 days to extinguish, broke out near the Czech-German border on the night of July 24 last year and spread to over 1000 hectares of forest.