The Albanian State Police has declared that 33 people might be responsible for the recent wave of fires spreading across the country. So far, 15 have been arrested, 2 are wanted and 16 others are now being investigated.

In a press release, the director of public order Ylli Vasili said that the suspects might be responsible for the fires that broke out from July 25 to August 10.

According to Global Forest Watch, which monitors the state of forests across the globe through satellite images, there were 475 active fire fronts in Albania.

GFW says in addition that Albania has lost over 40,000 hectares of forests in the last 20 years, or 6.2% of the total it had until 2000. The main reasons are illegal logging and uncontrolled fires.