The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

The forest fire in Granada is extinguished after burning for 27 days

2022-10-05T16:39:19.165Z


The causes of the Los Guájares fire, which has burned more than 5,100 hectares and reached a perimeter of 150 kilometers, are still being investigated.


Plan Infoca firefighters during the extinction of the fire in Los Guájares (Granada), on September 10.PLAN INFOCA (PLAN INFOCA)

The forest fire that started shortly before two in the afternoon on September 8 in Los Guájares (1,000 inhabitants, Granada) has been officially extinguished at approximately the same time this Wednesday, 27 days later.

The fire progressed uncontrollably for five days before it was stabilized.

Since then, workers from Infoca, the Andalusian forest firefighting service, have remained on the ground until the fire has been completely extinguished, something that has been achieved today.

The fire has burned 5,194 hectares, reported Infoca, from five municipalities.

The Andalusian Environment Minister, Ramón Fernández-Pacheco, has spoken in the Andalusian Parliament and has encrypted the perimeter of the fire at 150 kilometers, of which 43% is wooded and scrubland and the rest, pastures,

The fire started that September 8 at a site that the Forest Fire Investigation Brigade (BIIF) had already determined exactly a couple of days after it started.

It is a "point a few centimeters from a specific curve in the road that joins the towns of Guájar Faragüit and Guájar Alto," Antonio Aguilar, head of the BIIF, told this newspaper.

At the same time, the agents ruled out that it had occurred for natural reasons and it only remained to determine whether it was intentional or due to negligence.

With the fire already extinguished, Environment sources insist that the cause is still being investigated.

The mayors of the five affected municipalities —Los Guájares, El Valle, Albuñuelas, El Pinar and Vélez de Benaudalla— have requested the declaration of a catastrophic area,

The fire, as Antonio Aguilar explained to this newspaper, was about to be extinguished a few minutes after it started.

Some retired forest agents went to the place where it started and tried to put it out.

When they were about to get it, they got out of control.

The following five days, until mid-morning on Tuesday, were a sinvivir for the inhabitants of the area and for the 300 people and more than 20 aerial means involved in the extinction.

The environment did nothing on its part: it is a very steep area, without roads and, according to the brigade members, with loose sand that made it difficult to climb the slopes.

In addition, these are places that are particularly windswept, halfway between the coast of Granada and the capital.

Thus, the fire seemed almost controlled as soon as it was rekindled.

And in a moment of relative calm, the critical moment arrived, on Monday, September 12, at nightfall.

Shortly after 8 p.m. that Monday, the fire was subsiding.

Except for a few farmhouses in the mountains, until then there had been no danger to people or populated areas.

After nine o'clock, a change in the winds brought the flames up to 80 or 100 meters closer to Ízbor, a town of 150 inhabitants, and to Acebuches, a nearby town with just 20 people.

Both are on the side of a mountain and the fire was already beginning its descent towards the houses when their mayor toured both nuclei inviting whoever could leave to leave.

No one, or hardly anyone, slept there that night.

The next day, at mid-morning, they were able to return to their houses, which were ultimately not affected by the fire.

In addition to these two locations,

In his parliamentary appearance, Minister Fernández-Pacheco announced the creation of a working group that will include mayors of the affected municipalities, scientists from the University of Granada and professionals from Infoca with the aim of "adopting the appropriate decisions at the time of develop different proposals to recover” the burned areas.

So far no detailed reports have been made of the lost flora or fauna, although some environmental associations have offered to collaborate with the mayors in the restoration of the burned land.

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2022-10-05

You may like

News/Politics 2024-03-09T07:28:15.231Z
News/Politics 2024-03-10T17:38:47.256Z

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-27T16:45:54.081Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.