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Swedish court clears Stora Enso over largest wildfire in decades
STOCKHOLM (From news reports) -- A Swedish district court on Monday acquitted Finnish paper firm Stora Enso of responsibility for causing Sweden's largest wildfire in 40 years, instead fining a subcontractor.
The district court of the Vastmanland region, where the wildfire occurred, said no criminal liability could be placed on Stora Enso, only on the subcontractor, a small forestry company. The wildfire, which was declared a national emergency and forced over 1,000 people to evacuate their homes, had begun during ground works carried out by the contractor, the court said in a statement. The subcontractor was fined 2.5 million Swedish crowns ($260,000). One person was killed when the wildfire ravaged an area totalling 14,000 hectares in the central Vastmanland region in 2014.
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