I had the opportunatey to visit the site of the fire this morning and speak with the fire personnel there.

It was 10.30h and the last fire engine was just leaving. I asked them what time it was finally put out and the driver replied, “Just now.”

I asked who had been tasked with putting it out and he responded that it was the Motril fire service, backed by the Salobreña detachment. No Infoca units had been deployed. Around 20 fire personnel were needed, all told.

The area is a maze of narrow mud tracks so accessibility was difficult. In fact, one fire engine tipped alarmingly and had to be righted using a JCB.

Although the fire flared up again around 22.00h – it had originally started around 17.00h – by the early hours it was back under control and most of the crews were stood down. One crew were left to make sure it didn’t reignite – this was the crew that I had spoken to.

The fire consumed a large area of wild sugar cane that backed onto the beach, which was lucky because had it been closer to the Playa Granada flats, it would have been a different story. Around ten last night the occasional burst of flames was several storeys high.

It is more than probably that this was no accident – had it been on farmed land, somebody might have been clumsy burning branches, but this was amongst wild canes in the middle of nowhere.

(News: Salobrena, Costa Tropical, Granadad, Andalucia – Photo: Kathleen Muylaert)