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ARCHIVED - 2,500 residents forced to evacuate to flee forest fire in Malaga town of Benehavis
Three firefighters have already been injured in the blaze that started yesterday, while the flames advance at 30 metres per minute
A forest fire has broken out in Pujerra, near the Andalucía town of Benehavís in an area of difficult access called La Resinera at around 3.19pm on Wednesday June 8.
Benehavís is located between Estepona, Marbella and Ronda in Malaga province, less than 5 miles from the Costa del Sol coastline, and the wildfire has razed through the Sierra Bermeja natural park, which suffered a particularly vicious forest fire last year too.
This year’s fire has already claimed its first victims. Three forest firefighters were injured on Wednesday afternoon while they were extinguishing the fire, and all of them had to be evacuated by helicopter from the place where they were working. Two of them have minor burns, but the third has been hospitalised with burns to more than quarter of his body.
Fighting the fire
The fire has started in an area in the mountains, about 12 kilometres from the village, in a place which can only be reached by paths in the mountains and by tracks from this small municipality close to Ronda.
Situación bastante complicada en el #IFPujerra. Mucho animo a todos los medios del @Plan_Infoca y todos los que están allí. OACEL.
— 🔥Óscar🚁 (@BomberoForestaI) June 8, 2022
📹18:30 pic.twitter.com/Xlb76pYrLf
A dense grove of chestnut trees has started to burn, which has been fuel for the flames, which are advancing at a rate of 30 metres per minute, a speed that makes it dangerous to fight by land.
“We can’t go in. We can’t even get close,” said sources from the Forest Fire Fighting Service of Andalucía (Infoca), while planes worked to put an end to the flames before sunset.
Two Military Emergency Units, with nearly 80 soldiers and almost thirty vehicles each, have already left the military base in Morón (Seville) to join the 200 Infoca troops and 50 firefighters from the various local municipalities in order to tackle the fire in Pujerra, while 17 planes and other aerial resources are also being used.
Emergency evacuation
The town of Benehavís is being evacuated as a result of the fire. On Wednesday afternoon, the authorities decided to evacuate around a hundred residents of the Montemayor urbanisation, who were later joined by those from the Marbella Club and Benahavís Hill residential complexes, all in the municipality of Benahavís.
Anyone with mobility problems is being urged to call the Emergency services on 112 for assistance in getting out, while the Town Hall of Benahavís has made buses and taxis available at the entrance to the village for those who require them.
Initially the Benahavís sports centre had been set up as an emergency shelter, but this has now been moved to the San Pedro de Alcántara marquee in Marbella, where the Red Cross is able to provide basic necessities to up to 500 people.
Images: Ayuntamiento de Benehavís
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