The fire that returned to the province of Alicante on Saturday, this time in Benidorm, saw more than 80 firefighters and eleven aerial vehicles working during the evening to extinguish a forest fire that broke out in the municipality of Marina Baixa, which has forced the implementation of situation 1 of the Special Forest Fire Plan (PEIF), the interruption of traffic on the AP-7 in the direction of Valencia, as well as cutting off the electricity supply in the area.
The first to be evacuated were the residents of a dog kennel in the vicinity and an isolated house that was also close by. The flames started in the area of the CV-70, near the parks area of Benidorm, which led the closure of the Terra Natura park to close its facilities. Although there were no personal injuries, the firefighters said that some of the chalets in the area were likely to have been affected.
The fire started on Saturday afternoon and, initially, it was attended by two aircraft and a helicopter brigade, four units from the Alicante Provincial Fire Consortium, two forest firefighting units from the Generalitat, two fire engines, a coordinating foreman and an environmental agent, according to the Emergency Coordination Centre through its social networks.
At around 7.30pm, the number of air resources was increased to eleven: three helicopter brigades, three amphibious aircraft from the Ministry of Ecological Transition, 15 fire brigades from the Alicante Provincial Council, six forest fire brigades and six fire engines, two forest coordinators and a further environmental agent.
With the fire eventually brought under control, from 9pm onwards, the ten vehicles that remained in the area began to withdraw as the sun set. However, eleven units from the Provincial Fire Brigade of Alicante, eleven units from the Forest Fire Service of the Generalitat Valenciana with six fire engines and one environmental agent remained in the area until the authorities were certain that there would be no resurgence of the fire.
