A 67-year-old man has been arrested for the fire that broke out on Thursday in an area east of the settlement of Limni in the Volvi municipality, authorities said.

According to the investigation, the fire seems to have occurred during agricultural work with a harvester, carried out by the 67-year-old man, while it extended to a forest area burning holly and pine trees in an area of 1200 acres.

The accused was prosecuted for arson in a forest, by negligence, where the fire spread over a large area and was referred to trial at the Three-Member Plenary Court of Thessaloniki.

The fire appears to have started in a mown field ten meters from the forest. The harvester was equipped with fire extinguishers, as required by the relevant legislation, while the 67-year-old testified that he attempted with the assistance of two other persons to put out the fire but this was not possible and it spread.

To extinguish the fire, 54 firefighters with 18 vehicles, two aircraft and two helicopters, hiking teams and volunteers, and local government and private machinery assisted.