Dear Ed.

Regarding the weekend fire on the A7 above Torrecuevas – we stopped at Bar Piedra on the way home to Jete on Saturday afternoon and witnessed the fire up by the motorway and the fire trucks and Infoca heading up to deal with it.

It was very windy, so not good when fire is involved. Separately, sitting outside the bar, we were witness to the Guardia Civil dealing with a domestic argument. The man they were cautioning was smoking a cigarette, and when they asked him to go with them in their car he promptly threw his lit cigarette under a parked car. (The Guardia said nothing!)

A few minutes later another man smoking a cigarette got into his vehicle and before driving off threw his cigarette into the road where the wind blew it over towards the chirimoyas on the other side of the road. Same thing with someone else not long after.

Some of these summer fires could well have been caused by some thoughtless driver – you would think that, especially at this time of year, they would have more sense but it would appear not.

Maybe there should be a campaign or posters at least reminding people to dispose of their cigarette butts responsibly.

We might not normally have really been so aware or observant in other circumstances but sitting outside, watching clouds of smoke rising up in the sky, fire sirens everywhere and a helicopter flying around it was just incredulous to see people’s blatant disregard for others’ safety, including ours as we live in the campo and dread this happening any nearer to us. Maybe you could put a warning in your next issue!

Sincerely
Diane