First major wildfire alert of summer with three separate blazes burning in Malaga province

The first major forest fire alert this summer in Malaga province, with up to three separate fires burning on Friday night that kept specialists on their toes in Villanueva de la Concepción, Álora and Casares. Only the one in Álora was brought under control in the early hours of this Saturday morning, although it was still awaiting total extinction.

In the case of the first, in Villanueva de la Concepción, the flames affected an area known as Paraje El Paraíso from 7.30pm onwards and the Junta de Andalucía's Plan Infoca had to deploy various aerial resources - which were withdrawn at nightfall - and land resources to put out the fire on a day marked by strong winds throughout the province. The column of smoke caused by the flames could be seen from several points in Malaga city.

According to Plan Infoca, the terrain had a lot of vegetation, scrubland, pastures and woodland, which together with the wind, increased the complexity of the extinguishing work. Although the fire was away from the main populated areas, there were some scattered farmhouses nearby. The telephone warnings received by the 112 emergency service control room at around 7.30pm spoke of a fire in an area of stubble that spread to a forest area and the alerters commented on the presence of two nearby farmhouses and a farm. The 112 operators activated all emergency services, both Local and National Police, Guardia Civil, Civil Protection, Plan Infoca and Malaga's provincial fire brigade.

During the early evening, five helicopters (two heavy, two medium-heavy and one light) and another five aircraft, four of them water-dropping planes and one coordination plane, were working on the firefighting efforts. On the ground there are also six groups of forest firefighters, four reinforcement brigades, as well as four fire engines, environmental agents and mobile units. As night fell, the aerial resources had to withdraw from the area due to lack of visibility. On the ground, 18 groups of forest firefighters, ten fire engines, bulldozers, two environmental agents, five operations technicians, a mobile meteorology and transmission unit and a forest fire medical unit continued to work throughout the night.

In addition, just after 10pm, Plan Infoca reported a second forest fire in the province of Malaga, in this case in the municipality of Alora. The fire affects the El Aljibe area and three groups of forest firefighters, an operations technician, an environmental agent and two fire engines are working on it. In addition, the provincial fire brigade sent teams from Coín, Campillos and Torremolinos. The fire was brought under control at 1.10 am.

Finally, in the case of Casares, it was the town mayor, Juan Luis Villalón, who reported the fire on social media networks, as reported by Emma Pérez-Romera.

The fire broke out at the Complejo Ambiental Costa del Sol waste plant. "The fire has advanced rapidly through the facility, although for the moment it has not reached the adjoining properties. It is heading towards the industrial estate, in the direction of Estepona," explained the mayor just after midnight. The Plan Infoca brigade, four fire engines from Malaga's provincial fire brigade and the Guardia Civil and Local Police were working in the area. The town hall asked residents to stay away from the affected area and to keep informed through official channels.