A fire on Calle Cerezo in Torreta 3 Torrevieja was attended to by the emergency services at about 10am on Wednesday morning.

Although it is thought that the derelict house was used by two people, when the firefighters were deployed inside, they were able to confirm that two rooms were completely ablaze, but there was no one in the house.

They did, however, find a number of propane gas cylinders.

The bomberas spent about an hour fighting the fire as they worked to ensure that the flames were not able to spread to adjacent properties.

Firefighters able to stop spread of blaze in Las Torretas
Firefighters able to stop spread of blaze in Las Torretas

The Torretas, featuring rows of townhouses, are located next to the Torrevieja lagoon, They were built in the eighties to meet tourist demand.

Some of the areas in Las Torretas are looking very tired and almost abandoned due to the lack of municipal services and maintenance and their low price of properties on the second-hand market. Many of the internal roads are untreated and many of the gardens also suffer from a lack of municipal maintenance.

Many of the original owners have returned to their areas of origin – Germany, the United Kingdom, Northern Spain, or have died, with their inheritors subsequently disregarding the houses. This has unfortunately led to a number of illegal occupations.