An out-of-season fire caused no end of headaches for the fire services which fought the blaze for 24 hours to extinguish it.

Somebody had been burning old branches and leaves on an avocado plantation next to Barranco del Zafio but the strong winds caused it to spread. The person concerned had a permit to burn – town halls issue limited permits for land owners to burn vegetation waste. However, even armed with one, it is inadvisable to light a bonfire if there are gusts of wind about.

A forest-fire unit from Infoca and one of its aircraft, as well as firemen from the Salobreña, Almuñécar and Motril fire services struggled with the blaze whilst the Guardia Civil and Policía Local evacuated people from nearby cortijos.

The emergency services were alerted by a call to 112 around 19.30h Saturday evening, reporting a fire not far from the N-340, up the barranco below Hotel Salobreña, then fought the fire throughout the night, but just when it looked as if it was out on Sunday morning, a strong wind from the coast revived the fire requiring the weary firemen to take up positions again. Finally, at 17.00h that Sunday, the fire was declared official extinguished.

(News: Salobreña, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)