A six-day forest fire raged on the Costa del Sol in Spain last year. Flames broke out again Wednesday afternoon. 3000 people had to be evacuated.
For reasons that are still unknown, a forest fire broke out in the tourist hotspot of Costa del Col on Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday night, 3,000 people had to be brought to safety. On Thursday, the flames primarily threatened the 8,000-inhabitant community of Benahavis and the 300-inhabitant village of Pujerra, around a hundred kilometers west of Málaga in southern Spain, as reported by the state television broadcaster RTVE, citing regional politicians and fire department spokesmen. Three firefighters were injured. It was initially not known whether tourists were affected by the evacuations.
Around 500 members of the fire brigade, civil defense and the military emergency aid unit UME were deployed, as the emergency service of the Andalusia region announced on Twitter. According to official information, buildings were not initially affected.
Area in Spain already affected by forest fire last year
The affected area on the Sierra Bermeja mountain range was devastated by a six-day forest fire last September. At that time, more than 9000 hectares of forest were destroyed. This corresponds to the area of around 13,000 football pitches. Authorities were convinced at the time that the fire was the work of arsonists. However, the perpetrators could not be identified. The residents of the Sierra Bermeja have now experienced “a difficult night” again, wrote Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Twitter. The socialist politician expressed his solidarity with those affected.
The heat of more than 30 degrees, the drought and strong winds continued to make extinguishing work in the difficult-to-access area difficult on Thursday, it said. However, an improvement in the situation with weaker winds is expected in the course of the day. Spain has been plagued by a heat wave since May, and temperatures in Andalusia could even climb to 45 degrees this weekend. According to experts, it is the earliest heat wave since records began.
“Such high temperatures in the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands, where the mercury will climb to over 35 degrees, means that we are facing the first climatological heatwave of this year. If so, then it is the earliest so far the earliest date was June 11, and that was in 1981,” quoted “Euronews” meteorologist Ruben del Campo.
Sources: “Euronews”
