The legal proceedings relating to the Monchique fire, which occurred on 3 August 2018, in the Perna Negra area, have now had their outcome, and E-REDES, as well as one of its employees, the defendants at the time, have been cleared of any responsibility for the ignition.
The Court's order of non-prosecution, during the investigation requested by the Defendants, concluded by the absence of verification of the assumptions of the practice of the crime of forest fire. The Public Prosecutor's Office issued its conclusions along the same lines.
It was also demonstrated that E-REDES and its employee fully complied with the legal duties inherent to the operation of the existing medium voltage power line at the location in question, particularly with regard to the periodic renewal of the secondary network of fuel management strips, in accordance with the stipulations of the Monchique Municipal Forest Fire Fighting Plan and Decree-Law no. 124/2006, of 28 June, and the inspection and maintenance rules set out in the applicable Safety Regulations.
To this extent, and since nothing else would have been required of them, there was also no sufficient evidence of any breach of duty of care on the part of the Defendants.
Neither the Public Prosecutor nor the Assistants appealed against this decision, which consequently became final and unappealable, thus duly evidencing the care with which E-REDES and its employee carry out their activities, and the process definitively ended.
