Forest Fires Hit Costa Blanca

It is by no means an unusual news story for this time of year in Spain, but one that Tumbit's own Mr Grumpy found himself caught in the middle of early this evening.

Every year hundreds of forest fires ravage the countryside in Spain. Fortunately many are minor, and may even go unnoticed by the general public. Some, however, can devastate hectares at a time.

The small inland village of Lliber, just outside the Town of Jalon on the Northern Costa Blanca has not seen rain since the start of june, some ten weeks ago. This, combined with unusually high temperatures over the last few weeks and a breeze this afternoon caused a fire to race across the mountain behind the village.

Most of the region of Valencia has been on Orange alert for forest fires since the start of August.

The fire began in the late afternoon, on a hillside perilously close to a number of properties and guest houses, but a number of Helicopters and small aeroplanes were soon ferrying water from a reservoir in nearby Parcent to quench the flames. However, it wasn't enough. By 9.30pm the fire had spread and looked far from being under control - additionally, the supporting aircraft had to leave the fight for safety reasons, leaving just fire-fighters on the ground to protect as many buildings as possible.

The Situation was futher complicated by the fact that some areas of the village are temporarily without water, due to many households being in the process of having new water connections installed.

It is too early to tell the extent of the damage, but it may be that half a dozen or more properties have been damaged beyond repair. Likewise, it is too early to speculate on the cause of the fire.

Oh, and here's a fire safety tip : Maybe the authorities should contact the neighbouring villages and ask them to kindly refrain from setting off fireworks as part of the festivities. It doesn't help matters.