Residents protest after fire station closed during heat of summer in drought-stricken Malaga province town

Around 80 Spanish and foreign residents of Periana, La Viñuela and Alcaucín in the upper Axarquía joined local politicians to demand that the service be reinstated

Jennie Rhodes

Axarquía

Monday, 22 July 2024, 15:06 | Updated 17:25h.

Around 80 Spanish and foreign residents from villages in the upper Axarquía on the eastern side of Malaga province affected by the temporary closure of Periana’s fire station attended a protest in the town on Monday 22 July to call on Malaga’s provincial authority, the Diputación de Málaga, to return the service.

The protest comes two days after reports from the AxarquíaPlus social media page of a fire in La Viñuela area sparking angry comments on a local Facebook page that the fire brigade took 25 minutes to arrive as it had to come from Vélez-Málaga and Alhaurín el Grande.

On Friday 19 July a motorhome caught fire in the Sedella area and the fire brigade was called from Vélez-Málaga, about a 45-minute drive through narrow mountain roads up to the village. Sedella would also normally be served by the Periana brigade.

Last week the new mayor of Periana, Meritxell Vizuete, contacted the Diputación de Málaga, to express her “deep anger" after learning that officers from the Periana fire station had been temporarily transferred to Vélez-Málaga, but “without a return date” according to her social media.

Without prior warning

British resident Victor Calland, 71, who has lived in the Alcaucín area for 10 years, spoke in English at the protest. Calland, who spent many years working as a doctor, mountain rescuer and was Deputy Commissioner for St John Ambulance Brigade in Lancashire in the UK, explained the importance of “the golden hour”. He said this is the time emergency services have to get people who have been seriously injured to hospitals and over the “platinum 10 minutes” that fire services have to arrive at the scene of a fire, stabilise their vehicle, gain access and establish an escape route. Without a fire service in the upper Axarquía area Calland said, “people will die. It’s as simple as that".

During the protest Vizuete said, “After 16 years since its inauguration we find ourselves here due to the decision taken by the vice president of Diputación de Málaga, Manuel Marmolejo, who last Thursday 18 July without prior warning gave the order to move our fire station to Vélez Málaga.”

She went on to say that Marmolejo provided data on the number of callouts from the Periana station so far this year: Alcaucín 10 times; Alfarnate three times; Alfarnatejo once and La Viñuela five times. “He claims that there are not enough services to maintain a service in the area. However, we believe that the fire station is vital to our safety and well-being, and its relocation would leave us vulnerable in emergency situations.”

She concluded, “In the villages of the Axarquía we are not numbers but people and safety is paramount to us and we will not accept the removal of the Periana fire service because of the dire consequences this could have. We want to let you know that we are not going to stand idle and we will not stop until we get it.”

Diputación sources told SUR last week that the decision to close the Periana station "is temporary" and that it has been adopted “for technical reasons, in agreement at all times with the fire brigade operations”. The sources added, “Periana, Colmenar and Alcaucín will not be left unattended.”

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