The fire that kept many hundreds of Orihuela Costa residents on in suspense until late into Thursday night was finally brought under control at about 1am on Friday morning.
According to mayor Pepe Vegara approximately 10 hectares of pine forest were destroyed in an area between the two popular golf courses.
To prevent the embers from reigniting, the Local Police drones continued to comb the area of the fire all night, along with 55 people made up of 40 forest firefighters and 15 members of the Local Police, Civil Guard and Civil protection.
The fire, the origin of which remains unknown, broke out at 5:54 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. Initially it affected areas of scrubland on one side of the road that runs parallel to the post-transfer canal, between the Campoamor and Las Ramblas golf courses.
Local pedaneo, Antonio Cerdán, was one of those who sounded the alarm to the emergency services, as at that time he was cycling along a route nearby. Cerdán also notified a resident of Las Ramblas, Daniel Sujoy, who informed those people living closest to the fire of the risk.
See also: Fire threatens homes on Las Ramblas Golf Course
The fire quickly spread because of strong gusts of wind that took it towards wooded areas, putting the residents of many local properties at risk. It is a widely urbanized area. The flames were just a few metres from protected areas framed within the protected expanses of Sierra Escalona and Dehesa de Campoamor. Luckily, however, what could have been a major environmental tragedy was avoided.
The spread of the flames also forced the Provincial Firefighters Consortium to declare situation 1, which is activated when the fire may slightly affect the population. They said, however, in their first report on the state of the fire, that the evolution was “favourable.” And in the end, there were no evacuations or injuries, according to the firefighting teams.
Apart from the Firefighters, members of the Local Police, Civil Protection and the Civil Guard attended the scene to prevent the passage of vehicles through the area where the fire was being fought. A forward command post was established at the Campoamor golf course.
On a rare visit to the coast the mayor, Pepe Vegara, the Councilor for Emergencies, Víctor Valverde, and the Councilor for Citizen Security, Mónica Pastor, also turned up.
The virulence of the flames forced the Fire Consortium to make a large deployment. Firefighting vehicles including a command unit, a heavy mother bomb, a heavy urban bomb and a heavy rural bomb were involved in the extinction tasks. The team, provided by the Consortium, was made up of a sergeant, three corporals and eight firefighters from the Torrevieja park. Two firefighting aircraft, a firefighting helicopter and four forest fire units were also mobilised.
The terrain on which the fire developed is rugged, made up of hills and valleys. The wind, which blew continuously on Thursday afternoon, was the main difficulty. Luckily, it was an area where it is easy for aerial means to recharge water as both the post-transfer canal and the La Pedrera reservoir are very close by.
